At least 1 person killed, more than a dozen injured in downtown Austin shooting, authorities say
One person has died and more than a dozen were injured early Saturday in a shooting in downtown Austin, the Austin Police Department said. The victim "succumbed to his injuries at a local hospital" and was pronounced dead Sunday afternoon, according to a press release.
One suspect, a juvenile, is in custody and another remains at large as of Sunday night, according to CBS affiliate KEYE-TV.
Earlier Saturday, the Austin Police Department said, "There is one suspect described as a Black male, with dread locks, wearing a black shirt and a skinny build."
The shooting took place just before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday along 6th Street, an area in Austin known for its restaurants and bars. Police said it appears the shooting was an isolated incident, started by a disturbance between two different parties. Almost all of the victims were innocent bystanders, police said.
Chacon called the shooting "one of the more significant events to ever happen in Austin."
Chacon said officers were on the scene within seconds. "As shots rang out, we had officers actually in that block." he said, "I've seen video already of them running to the victims, within seconds, pulling out their tourniquets and beginning to apply tourniquets on gunshot victims. They applied those first aid kits, the things that are in there, and they were conducting CPR on some."
Chacon said it was difficult for EMS to get to the scene due to the large and "panicked" crowd, and officers used police vehicles to transport some of the shooting victims.
"It was clear," Chacon said, "as people were running out of that scene, our officers were running in."
Chacon said the Austin Police Department is facing staffing shortages, and troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety will help Austin Police with security on Saturday evening. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are also helping Austin Police with the investigation, Chacon said.
Other parts of the U.S. have suffered mass shootings over the past day. One woman was killed and nine others were wounded after a shooting on Chicago's South Side early Saturday morning, police say.
Savannah, Georgia's police department is investigating a shooting that killed one and injured several others on Friday night. One of the victims was an 18-month-old child, CBS affiliate WTOC-TV reported.
In Dallas, a 4-year-old child and four adults were shot outside an apartment on Friday afternoon, according to police. Police said they believed someone shot into a crowd over a possible argument, CBS Dallas/Fort Worth reports.
Peter Martinez contributed to this report.
