Shortly before 2 a.m. on Feb. 28, a gunman shot 16 people, killing two and injuring 14, outside of Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth St. before being shot and killed by responding officers. Three of the 14 injured were in critical condition as they were transported to the hospital. The gunman, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, seemingly acted alone when he circled the block in a black SUV before shooting multiple times with a rifle out of the car’s window. After firing the first round of shots, Diagne parked his car on Wood St. before walking eastward down West Sixth carrying an assault rifle, randomly targeting those walking along the street. According to Austin Police Department Chief Lisa Davis, law enforcement response to the incident was immediate, with officers diverting from their assignments on East Sixth St. to arrive within minutes of the first reports. Out of precaution, Austin EMS was already embedded in the area surrounding Buford’s, allowing them to tend to the injured within 57 seconds.
The law enforcement response continued into this morning, with the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force working concurrently with APD after a potential connection to terrorism was identified. Diagne was seen approaching the scene wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah” written on the front, along with depictions of the Iranian flag. Due to the recent joint United States-Israel attacks on Iran, it is suspected that Diagne may have acted in response to the strikes. Diagne was a Senegalese national and naturalized US citizen who lived just outside of Austin. He first came to the US in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa before becoming a lawful citizen after marrying an American citizen in 2006. Diagne became a naturalized citizen in 2013, and lived for multiple years in New York City before moving to Texas.
FBI investigative teams, along with City of Austin Mobile Logistics Command, set up their command centers a block east of Buford’s just outside the Canopy by Hilton Hotel on West Sixth St. Guests staying at the hotel were warned to stay away from the scene but affirmed that they were safe from danger. John Ortlieb, a guest visiting from Dallas, was at Buford’s and in the surrounding area hours before the shooting occurred.
“We were here for my wife’s 46th birthday,” Ortleib said. “It was us and two other couples from Dallas, and we were at Buford’s, between 5 and 6 p.m. We left to go get dinner downtown, off Sixth St. Then we came back, and we were just bar hopping around the area near Buford’s before we went back to our room at about 2:00 a.m. when the shooting occurred.”
Ortleib and his wife returned to their hotel room before the shooting and didn’t see it firsthand, but it felt uncanny for the couple when they woke up to the news of the tragedy that had occurred less than 1,000 feet away from where they slept.
“We were in our hotel room, and we didn’t hear anything,” Ortleib said. “This morning, we woke up, and we saw the news that there was a shooting at Buford’s, and it was really surreal because we were just there.”
Although the vicinity close to Buford’s was fully restricted to the public for a block radius in every direction, onlookers continued to try and decipher the motive and further details about the shooting. Chris Harte, an Austin resident who lives close to the site of the incident, believes that there should be an increased police presence in the area in general, but especially after the shooting.
“The city needs a huge number of additional policemen,” Harte said. “It doesn’t have anything close to what it needs. I’m not sure that would have changed this particular incident, but in general, there aren’t enough people to enforce the laws. It seems to be getting worse.”
For Harte, the widespread support of increased social workers taking the place of police officers is not the way to go about maintaining safety. He believes that an increased police presence is the only effective way to keep Austinites safe.
“The city council is full of people who think social workers are going to solve these problems and they’re not,” Harte said. “It’s way too far gone for social workers to solve the problem. We need more police on the street.”
Social workers traditionally respond to incidents where residents need mental health assistance. The shooting suspect, Diagne, had a history of mental illness. Nevertheless, law enforcement is continuing their probe into the previously mentioned possible connections between American strikes on Iran and the incident. On March 1, APD SWAT teams performed a warranted search of a Pflugerville home with connections to Diagne. Concurrently, other law enforcement teams searched a Del Valle apartment complex connected to the suspect. It has been confirmed that Diagne resided in one of the apartments in Del Valle, and his neighbors were shocked to hear of his connection to the shooting.
The investigation is currently ongoing, and updates will continue.
