The suspect gunman who killed two people at a bar in Texas early Sunday was wearing a hoodie that said “Property of Allah,” and another shirt with an Iranian flag design, the Associated Press confirmed.
The mass shooter that left two dead and 14 others wounded has been identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. Diagne was naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal and lived in Pflugerville, Texas.
According to the FBI, the shooting was “potentially an act of terrorism.” FBI agent Alex Doran told reporters on Sunday “there were indicators on the subject, and in his vehicle, that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is working with the Austin Police Department on the investigation, which includes staff from the federal agency’s evidence response and digital forensic teams, Doran said in a press conference on Sunday.
The shooting came a day after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran in what President Donald Trump characterized as the beginning of “major combat operations.”
Trump said that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead, following reports of his killing in a joint military operation conducted by the United States and Israel.
By afternoon Sunday, the U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran sunk nine Iranian ships and took out dozens of Iranian leaders. Trump told The Daily Mail the operation could go on for four weeks, or less.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was briefed on the shooting.
“Today, President Trump has spoken with the leaders of Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE,” she wrote on X. “The President has also been briefed on the shooting in Austin, Texas.”
The shooting began shortly before 2 a.m. outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth Street.
According to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the shooter drove a large SUV around the block multiple times before stopping, turning on his hazard lights, rolling down the window and firing on patrons on Buford’s patio and in front of the bar, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
Law enforcement and emergency services were already in the area because of crowds that tend to gather there on weekends, Davis said. The speed of response saved multiple lives, she said.
Reuters contributed to this story.
