AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A gunman opened fire Monday in the parking lot of a Target store in Texas' capital, killing at least three people, before stealing two cars during a getaway that ended with police using a Taser to detain him on the other side of the city, authorities said.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said the suspect is a man in his 30s with “a mental health history.”
Davis said the suspect fled the scene in a stolen car, wrecked that car and then stole another from a dealership. He was captured about 20 miles (32 kilometers) away, in south Austin, where he was taken into custody, she said during a news conference.
She said officers responding to a call about 2:15 p.m. found three people who had been shot in the Target parking lot.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services Chief Robert Luckritz said two people were pronounced dead at the scene and one person was taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead. He said another person was treated on the scene for unrelated injuries.
“This is a very sad day for Austin. It’s a very sad day for us all and my condolences go out to the families,” Davis said. She said she had no information to release about the victims.
Lonnie Lee, 22, said she had visited the Target with her sister just a couple of hours earlier before they left to get lunch with their grandparents. When they returned to the area to continue shopping, she said they were shocked to see that the parking lot was cordoned off and filled with police.
“We got really, really lucky,” Lee said. “And some people didn’t.”
The shooting came amid back-to-school shopping ahead of the upcoming academic year. Target corporate has not responded to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
“This is a devastating situation, and my heart is with the victims and their families,” Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said in a message on X. “While this remains an active and ongoing investigation, what I’ll say is that this was a sickening, cowardly act of gun violence.”
At a Jiffy Lube that shares its parking lot with the Target, employees hunkered down and locked the store doors as soon as they became aware a shooting was taking place. Paul Smith, an employee at the auto store, said he saw people running from their cars in the parking lot in a panic.
“I had just gotten back from the Target like a minute before,” Smith said.
The Target shooting comes just over two weeks after an attack at a Walmart store in Michigan. A man accused of stabbing 11 people at the Traverse City store on July 26 has been charged with terrorism and multiple counts of attempted murder.
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Lathan is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
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Associated Press writers Jim Vertuno in Austin, Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri, contributed to this report.
