13 injured in downtown Austin mass shooting, 2 critical

In a chaotic incident amidst Austin’s entertainment district, thirteen people were shot early Saturday leaving the police officers taking some of the wounded in police cars to the hospital.Out of the 13 injured, 11 are in stable condition and 2 remain critical. Crime scene and homicide detectives are actively working on the case viewing an array of video gathered by bystanders and other cameras near the scene to identify any suspects, but as of now authorities say that the shooter appeared to fire randomly.

Austin-Travis County EMS medics responded at 1:25 a.m. described the incident as an “active attack.” EMS officials said that the medics took four people to the hospital by ambulance, Austin police took six others to the hospital and three were taken by private vehicle.

“It was very difficult to contain the scene, it was very difficult for EMS to make their way into this crowd,”and because of the nature of the injuries, officers had to go ahead and use their police vehicles to put some of these shooting victims into their vehicles and transport them themselves”,interim Austin Police Chief Joe Chacon said.

Sources say that around tens of thousands of people were gathered in the city’s entertainment center anchored by the Sixth Street and an intense situation of utter chaos, confusion and fear was created when a barrage of gunshots was heard.

“Officers initially located several victims who had sustained gunshot wounds and were injured,” and began treating people, police said.