Authorities are investigating whether a man who fatally shot two people and wounded 14 others at a bar in Austin early Sunday was motivated by the U.S. military campaign in Iran, according to two people briefed on the investigation.
Investigators have identified the gunman, who was killed by officers at the scene, as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Senegal, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation.
He wore a hoodie that read “Property of Allah” with an undershirt bearing an Iranian flag design as he opened fire on weekend revelers at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, a popular nightspot in Austin’s Sixth Street entertainment district, the people familiar with the matter said. Officers later found a Quran in the SUV he drove to the area.
The FBI has activated the Joint Terrorism Task Force to assist with the investigation. But the agency has not publicly identified the shooter and did not immediately respond to requests for comment Sunday. Texas authorities have not released names of any of the victims.
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.
“This is a really tough, tough time for the city of Austin,” Lisa Davis, the city’s police chief, said at a news conference early Sunday. She credited officers and emergency responders, who regularly patrol the area during popular weekend hours, for their swift response to the scene.
Davis said the shooter drove several times past Buford’s before stopping and firing a pistol out the window of his SUV just before 2 a.m.
He hit several patrons on the patio, then parked, emerged with a rifle and opened fire at people fleeing the area. Officers rushed toward the intersection and fatally shot him, Davis said.
Alex Doran, acting head of the FBI’s San Antonio field office, told reporters Sunday the bureau was investigating the incident as a potential act of terrorism but declined to provide details on what prompted that decision.
“Obviously, it’s still way too early in the process to determine the exact motivation,” Dorna said. “But there were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism.”
Before Sunday’s shooting, Diagne was not under active monitoring by federal terrorism investigators, although officials were still working to determine whether he’d drawn scrutiny in the past, one of the people familiar with the investigation said.
He first came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2000 and was granted lawful permanent resident status six years later, after marrying a U.S. citizen. He became a naturalized citizen himself in 2013, according to a U.S. immigration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Diagne had not yet been publicly identified as the suspected shooter.
Late Sunday afternoon, police and FBI agents descended upon an address in Pflugerville, Texas — about 17 miles northeast of Austin — where authorities believe Diagne had been living.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott condemned the attack and said in a statement Sunday that he 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.
The post FBI probing whether Iran attack motivated Austin shooter who killed 2 appeared first on Washington Post.
