A shooting in downtown Austin overnight left 14 people hurt — two of whom remained in critical condition on Saturday, police said. No deaths have been reported.
Police said two male suspects remained at large Saturday afternoon, and they were working to get them into custody.
Earlier, 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. along 6th Street, an area in Austin known for its restaurants and bars. Police said it appears the shooting was started by a disturbance between two different parties, and almost all of the victims were innocent bystanders.
Interim Chief of Police Joseph Chacon called the shooting, “one of the more significant events to ever happen in Austin.”
Chacon said officers responded “very quickly” to the scene. “They were able to immediately begin life-saving measures for many of these patients, including applications of tourniquets, applications of chest seals and other types of first aid equipment that they carry on their person.”
Chacon said it was difficult to contain the scene due to very large crowds and hard for EMS to make their way through. Officers used police vehicles to transport some of the shooting victims.
Police said the area will be closed “for an extended amount of time” while the crime scene is processed.
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 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 DFW reports.
