Austin: Was there a possible link to the shooting at a bar in Austin, Texas, on Sunday and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East?
Three persons, including a 21-year-old Indian-American student, named Savitha Shan, were killed in the shooting at the crowded bar.
New revelations have surfaced regarding the shooting, authorities said. While the exact motive remains unclear, the suspect’s possible links to Iran have emerged, as reported by Hindustan Times.
The shooter, identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, was wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words “Property of Allah,” at the time of the incident, news agency AP reported, citing a law enforcement official.
A BBC report said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking at a likely “nexus of terrorism” in the case and a potential link to the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.
Apart from Savitha, the other two killed in the attack were identified as Ryder Harrington (19) and Jorge Pederson (30).
The shooting took place at Sixth Street, a nightlife hub full of bars and clubs, not too far from the flagship campus of the University of Texas system. The shooter is said to have opened fire after driving past Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden.
The patrons, most of them students, who hang around the place, ducked for cover and ran to save themselves as the suspect fired on others with a rifle before being fatally shot by the police.
The pistol and rifle used in the shooting by Diagne was legally bought by him several years ago in San Antonio, university president Jim Davis said.
Savitha, a popular face on campus, was majoring in management information systems and economics at the University of Texas.
She was described as one of the “superstar students” by a professors at the McCombs School of Business. She was set to graduate in May this year. “Involved in student organizations – a light in the classroom. Absolutely crushing to lose her,” Russ Finney, assistant professor at the business school said in a post on X.
The shooter, meanwhile, is known to be from Senegal. He arrived in the US in 2000 on a B-2 tourist visa. He became a lawful permanent resident six years later after marrying an American, AP said.
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