Police in Austin, Texas, have released surveillance video, police body camera footage, police radio traffic, and grisly recordings of 911 calls from the early morning hours of the deadly mass shooting in the city’s popular Sixth Street entertainment district.
Footage shows the chaotic scene as bars closed on Sunday on the busy street.
One 911 caller said: “There are people who have been shot. We need help now.”
The Austin Police Department and the FBI continue to investigate the mass shooting that occurred in the bustling Sixth Street entertainment district on March 1.
Jack Mayer/AP
Video showed the suspect walking carrying what Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis described as an AR-15 rifle, during the news conference Thursday afternoon.
The president described the video as “hard to hear” and “hard to see.”
People were seen running randomly as the suspect appeared to be shooting along the popular intersection. Police camera footage showed officers rushing towards the gunman, where a barrage of shots were exchanged, ending with the suspect on the ground.
“As additional officers arrived, they were directed to the suspect’s location by brave people caught up in this nightmare,” Davis said.
A map showing the scenes of the deadly mass shooting in Austin as seen during a press conference on Thursday.
KVUE
The release of the materials comes as authorities continue to investigate whether the gunman, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaja Diagne, was inspired by the attacks launched by the United States and Israel on Iran last weekend, when he opened fire first from his SUV and then on foot, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen others.
Ryder Harrington, 19, Savitha Chan, 21, and Jorge Pederson, 30, were killed in the attack.
Jorge Pederson, Savitha Chan and Ryder Harrington.
Obtained by CNN
In an update, authorities now say 19 people were injured by gunfire during the shooting. Two people remain in area hospitals, one of whom is in critical condition, Davis said.
“I don’t think any of us can imagine what these families are going through right now, and the suffering they’re dealing with,” the president said. “Our hearts are with them.”
Diagne was shot dead by police. Officials previously said a Senegalese immigrant had become a U.S. citizen and was not on the radar of local police or the FBI before the attack.
“His only interaction with law enforcement was in 2022 and that was a ‘welfare check’ and an outside agency,” Davis said Thursday. “This invitation was a reference: his mental health.”
While a motive has not been confirmed, investigators are examining the suspect’s clothing, which included a T-shirt with an Iranian flag design and a hoodie printed with “Ownership of God,” along with his criminal history and mental health records as they work to determine what led to Austin’s deadliest mass shooting in recent years.
Investigators are also actively examining whether the attack may have a terrorism connection and are working in close coordination with the FBI, though officials are “not ready to talk about exactly what that connection is,” Davis said. She added that authorities are reviewing the digital evidence and have issued two search warrants.
“From then on, calling in the FBI was the right thing to do, and you’re talking about a scene that serious and then the potential for terrorism, that had to be investigated, and it did,” the president said.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at at least one home connected to Diagne in Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb north of Austin. Investigators were likely looking for evidence such as writings, online activity or propaganda that might shed light on whether the suspect planned the attack or was influenced by extremist material, an official previously told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Carol Alvarado, Taylor Galgano and Jeremy Grisham contributed to this report.