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A shooting in the car park of a Target store in Austin, Texas, left at least three people dead on Monday before the gunman stole two vehicles and fled across the city. Police later used a Taser to detain him in south Austin, authorities said.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the suspect is a man in his 30s with “a mental health history.” After the attack, he stole a vehicle to escape but crashed it soon after. He then took another car from a dealership. Officers arrested him roughly 32 km from the original crime scene.
Police received a call around 2:15 p.m. about gunfire in the Target car park. Responding officers found three people with gunshot wounds.
According to Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Chief Robert Luckritz, two victims died at the scene. The third victim was taken to a hospital but later died. Another person was treated at the scene for unrelated injuries.
“This is a very sad day for Austin. It’s a very sad day for us all, and my condolences go out to the families,” Davis said, adding she could not release further details about the victims.
Witness Lonnie Lee, 22, said she and her sister had visited the Target just a couple of hours earlier before going to lunch with their grandparents. When they returned to shop again, the area was sealed off by police.
“We got really, really lucky,” Lee said. “And some people didn’t.”
The shooting took place during the busy back-to-school shopping season. Target’s corporate office has not yet responded to the Associated Press for comment.
“This is a devastating situation, and my heart is with the victims and their families,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson posted on X. “While this remains an active and ongoing investigation, what I’ll say is that this was a sickening, cowardly act of gun violence.”
At a Jiffy Lube auto service center located in the same car park, staff locked the doors and hid inside after hearing about the shooting. Employee Paul Smith said he saw people fleeing their cars in panic.
“I had just gotten back from the Target like a minute before,” Smith said.
The attack comes just over two weeks after a mass stabbing at a Walmart in Michigan, where a man was charged with terrorism and multiple counts of attempted murder for injuring 11 people on July 26.
