Austin Police have released the identity of the suspect involved in the shooting on West 6th Street, Austin, on Sunday morning, March 1, 2026.
The incident claimed three lives and dozens fear injury in a mass shooting that the FBI described as potentially an act of terrorism.
According to authorities, the suspect died in a police encounter at the scene.
Who was Ndiaga Diagne?
Suspect Diagne, 53, was a U.S. citizen with roots in the African nation of Senegal.
Investigators believe the gunman acted on his own, and Austin police officers said he had a handgun and a rifle during the attack, according to reports. CBS News.
Diagne is said to have arrived in the United States in 2000 on a tourist visa, obtained a green card in 2006 and became a U.S. citizen in 2013. The suspect spent some time in New York before visiting Texas.
How did the Austin shooting unfold?
According to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis, who detailed the incident, officers were patrolling in the bustling bar district known as East Sixth Street when they responded to calls of an active shooter just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 1, 2026.
David said the shooter was driving a “large SUV” when he stopped, turned on his flashing lights, rolled down his window and began firing a gun.
The shooter then headed west on 6th Street, parked on Wood Street and began walking east on Sixth Street with an assault rifle and opened fire on bystanders.
After being confronted by police officers at an intersection, Diagne was shot and killed.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran said there were signs in the van and the suspect that suggested a “terrorist nexus.”
Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz provided an update, saying “fourteen people have been hospitalized and three are in critical condition.”
For the uninitiated, Austin is home to the capital of Texas and one of the state’s largest public universities, the University of Texas, which is close to downtown, just two miles from Buford’s.
