Austin, TexasAt least three people were killed Monday after a shooter opened fire at a Target store parking lot in the Texas capital. He then stole two cars during a flee, which concluded with police deploying a Taser to apprehend him on the opposite side of the city, according to authorities.
The suspect, according to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, is a man in his 30s who has a history of mental illness.
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According to Davis, the guy drove off in a stolen vehicle, damaged it, and then took another one from a car dealership. She announced during a press conference that he was apprehended in south Austin and placed under arrest.
According to her, responding police discovered three shooting victims in the Target parking lot.
Two persons were declared deceased at the site, according to Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz, and one person was transported to a hospital where they were declared dead. Another person received on-scene treatment for unrelated injuries, he added.
Austin is having a pretty depressing day. “My condolences go out to the families, and it’s a very sad day for all of us,” Davis added. “I don’t have any information to share about the victims,” she stated.
Ahead of the new school year, the shooting occurred during back-to-school shopping. An email requesting comment from The Associated Press was not answered by Target corporate.
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson stated in Amessageon X, “This is a terrible situation, and my heart is with the victims and their families.” I will state that this was a sickening, cowardly act of gun violence, even though the inquiry is still active and ongoing.
When staff at a Jiffy Lube, which is located in the same parking lot as Target, learned that a shooting was occurring, they immediately hunkered down and locked the store doors. Paul Smith, who works at the car dealership, reported witnessing panicked customers fleeing from their vehicles in the parking lot.
Smith remarked, “I had just returned from the Target about a minute earlier.”
The Target shooting occurs a little more than two weeks after a Michigan Walmart shop was attacked. A man has been charged with terrorism and several counts of attempted murder after stabbing eleven people at the business in Traverse City on July 26.
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Contributions were made by Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Jamie Stengle in Dallas; and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas.
