Authorities said a man who fatally shot two people and wounded 14 others at a bar in Austin early Sunday may have been motivated by the U.S. military campaign in Iran, according to two people briefed on the investigation.
The gunman, who was killed by officers at the scene, has been identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who came to the country from Senegal in 2006, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation. He had been living in Pflugerville, Texas, a city outside Austin.
At the time of the shooting, Diagne was wearing a shirt with an Iranian flag that read “Property of Allah,” and investigators later found a Quran in the car he drove to the shooting scene, one of the people familiar said.
The FBI has activated its Joint Terrorism Task Force to assist with the investigation. The agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday.
Security concerns have emerged throughout the country since the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran on Saturday, and several local law enforcement agencies have reported that authorities are on heightened alert over possible retaliation.
Authorities do not believe Diagne was working directly in coordination with any groups connected or sympathetic to the Iranian regime, the people familiar with the investigation of the Austin shooting said. They cautioned, however, that the probe remains in an early stage and information could change.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the shooting.
Austin police have said the shooter several times drove past Buford’s, a popular nightspot in Austin’s Sixth Street entertainment district, before stopping and firing a pistol out the window of his SUV.
The gunman hit several people on the patio, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said at a news conference Sunday morning. He then parked the vehicle, emerged with a rifle and opened fire at people fleeing the area before officers who rushed to the intersection fatally shot him, Davis said.
“Obviously, it’s still way too early in the process to determine the exact motivation,” said Alex Doran, the acting head of the FBI’s San Antonio field office. “But there were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism,” he said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has activated several state agencies — including the Texas Military Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas National Guard — to increase patrols and surveillance.
“To anyone who thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans or our critical infrastructure, understand this clearly: Texas will respond with decisive and overwhelming force to protect our state,” Abbott said in a statement Sunday.
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