Third Victim of Downtown Austin Shooting Dies

AUSTIN, TX — Officials on Monday evening confirmed that a third victim in the mass shooting in downtown Austin died as the investigation into the suspected gunman continues.

Authorities have named the three victims killed in the downtown Austin shooting as 30-year-old Jorge Pederson, 21-year-old Savitha Shan and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington. Shan and Harrington were killed Sunday morning, and Pederson died from his injuries Monday, police said.

Thirteen others were injured in the shooting. 

Federal, state and local law enforcement are continuing to investigate the suspected gunman, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. The FBI has called the shooting a “potential act of terrorism,” and its Joint Terrorism Task Force is involved in the investigation. 

“Our ultimate goal and everything we do is to determine the motive,” said Alex Doran, acting special agent in charge of FBI San Antonio. “We are poring through thousands of hours of video. We have massive amounts of both digital and physical evidence, and this is an around-the-clock, 24-hour investigation at this point, and any declarations on what led to that motive would be premature.”

Earlier in the day, Gov. Greg Abbott said at another news conference that authorities are investigating to determine whether the suspected shooter acted alone. 

“The FBI is working in collaboration with the Texas Department of Public Safety as well as others, and they want to track down every last detail about the shooter’s connection to terrorism,” Abbott said.

“Who was he in contact with? Where did he get information from? Did he have any other connection? And we will not rest until every last trail or piece of information is pursued to determine if there’s anybody else involved in this whatsoever.” 

The first call about the shooting at Buford’s, a popular beer garden that sits among several nightlife venues on 6th Street, came just before 2 a.m. Sunday. 

A large SUV drove around the block several times before Diagne allegedly shot from his vehicle with a pistol, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said during a Sunday news conference. The suspected gunman then parked his vehicle before exiting and continued shooting with a rifle, Davis said.

The police chief said Monday that the suspected gunman had obtained the firearms legally in San Antonio in 2017. 

First responders were able to reach the scene within a minute, and police fatally shot Diagne. 

The suspected gunman wore a sweatshirt with “Property of Allah” across the front and a shirt with an Iranian flag design during the shooting, which took place amid the escalating conflict between the U.S. and Iran.

The Department of Homeland Security said Diagne entered the country from Senegal on a tourist visa in 2000, became a lawful permanent resident after marrying a U.S. citizen in 2006 and was naturalized in 2013.

When asked about his criminal history, DHS said Diagne was arrested in Texas in 2022 for collision with vehicle damage. The New York Post reported, citing anonymous sources, that he also was arrested in New York City for “illegal vending” in 2001 and was arrested three other times between 2006 and 2016, though those cases are sealed. The newspaper didn’t say whether he was convicted following those arrests. 

Arrests generally don’t automatically bar green cards or naturalization, according to Denise Gilman, director of the Immigration Clinic at the University of Texas at Austin.

Both the Austin Police Department and the FBI executed search warrants at two residences connected to Diagne, one in Pflugerville and the other in Del Valle. Davis said the department could release the suspect’s criminal history and background as soon as Thursday. Both agencies said Diagne was not on their radars prior to the shooting.