AUSTIN, Texas – Thirteen people were shot early Saturday in a chaotic scene in the city's entertainment district that left police officers taking some of the wounded in police cars to the hospital.
The shooter or shooters remain at large, and detectives were working rapidly to view an array of video gathered by bystanders and other cameras near the scene to identify any suspects. Authorities say the shooter appears to have fired randomly.
Among the 13 people injured, 11 were in stable condition and two were in critical condition.
Police said the shooting appears to be an isolated incident but that the investigation is ongoing. Investigators are being aided by the FBI and off-duty detectives from various units.
Austin-Travis County EMS medics responded at 1:25 a.m. to what they described as an "active attack." Medics took four people to the hospital by ambulance, Austin police took six others to the hospital and three were taken by private vehicle, EMS officials said.
"It was very difficult to contain the scene, it was very difficult for EMS to make their way into this crowd," interim Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon said. "And because of the nature of the injuries, officers had to go ahead and use their police vehicles to put some of these shooting victims into their vehicles and transport them themselves."
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Police told the American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the crowd in the city's entertainment district at the time was near the size of a "pre-pandemic" group, meaning potentially tens of thousands of people gathered in the area anchored by Sixth Street.
The Republic of Texas biker rally in Austin this weekend also typically draws thousands of motorcyclists to the city and the entertainment district.
At the time of the attack, "a large crowd of people began to disperse in the area," police said in a statement Saturday.
"Officers initially located several victims who had sustained gunshot wounds and were injured," and began treating people, police said.
Taylor Blount was at a bar on Sixth Street when he heard a barrage of gunshots.
"I only heard them from a single weapon and then everyone started running in different directions," he said. "People were freaking out a lot, and there were some people crying, but most people were just freaking out.
Blount, 26, said he ran inside a bar, closed the door and locked it because he could not immediately determine where the shots were from.
Moments later, when he believed it to be safe, he said he went outside and saw police officers dragging a man who had been shot in the ribs to safety and then performing first aid on him. "It was very intense," he said.
Chacon said the city has seen an increase in gun violence in recent months.
"So this is just emblematic of that," he said. "And it's something we're trying to work to decrease."
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