Austin Police released body camera video showing the shooting on Thursday and increased the count of victims hit by gunfire to 18.
AUSTIN, Texas — The suspect in the mass shooting in Austin’s popular 6th Street entertainment district had only one contact with law enforcement before the attack — a mental health welfare check in 2022 — and was not on Austin Police radar, the chief said at a media briefing Thursday.
Chief Lisa Davis released body camera footage showing officers shooting and killing suspect Ndiaga Diagne, 53, within minutes of the shooting early Sunday morning.
Three victims died, and 15 others were struck by gunfire, Davis said — more injured than was initially reported. Two remained in the hospital Thursday, one in critical condition.
Davis said authorities in New York conducted a welfare check on the suspect.
“I don’t know that they had enough to do a commitment for him. I think what I’m hearing is they gave him resources to call,” she said.
The Texas Tribune reports a judge in a 2022 divorce case found Diagne had a “history or pattern of committing family violence.” The Tribune reported Diagne refuted the claims in a handwritten letter.
“In our culture and religion, we do not need a marriage certificate to be husband and wife. The only reason we are here is because I applied for a marriage certificate to help her become a legal resident of the United States and later become a citizen,” Diagne wrote, according to the Tribune. “I only object to her lying reason for divorce. Otherwise, I have no problem whatsoever having her out of my life.”
The judge’s finding of family violence does not trigger a criminal investigation, the Tribune reported. Davis previously said Diagne legally purchased the semi-automatic handgun and AR-15 he used in the shooting.
In the hours after the shooting, the FBI said it was examining a “possible nexus to terrorism” in the attack. Davis gave no further information on any motive the suspect may have had.
She praised responding officers, who could be seen on body camera footage converging on the suspect from two directions as he stood on the corner of 6th Street.
“It is quite clear that they saved multiple lives,” she said.