AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Police Department (APD) is investigating a shooting on Sixth Street that happened early Sunday morning.
The call came in at 2 a.m. on March 20. According to police, the shooting occurred at 400 block of E. Sixth Street — the same block where a mass shooting occurred in June last year.
Four people were injured and all four were taken to a local trauma center. All injuries are not expected to be life-threatening. The department later said the injuries victims sustained were minor.
APD said they had a suspect in custody shortly before 5 a.m. The suspect's identity has not been released at this time due to the ongoing investigation, APD said.
The department said early Sunday afternoon that officers were on patrol in the area, near Toulouse Bar, when they heard "several gunshots" coming from the area. During a preliminary investigation, the department found the shooting started as a disturbance between two groups.
Officers believe the incident was not a random act and added that there is no danger to the public.
No additional information regarding the shooting is available at this time.
The shooting happened early on the final day of South By Southwest (SXSW) during which first responders, including APD and Austin-Travis County EMS, heightened their presence around Downtown Austin.
In a press event on Sunday afternoon, ATCEMS said that having that increased presence downtown from all safety agencies is critical. ATCEMS said that they use lower-scale vehicles, called SRUs, that enable paramedics to navigate the crowd easier and get to patients faster.
ATCEMS said that last night was the perfect reason to have that medical and enforcement support to treat patients while the threat was ongoing.
Going forward, ATCEMS said similar setups in function and scope to the one at SXSW will be present at other events, dependent on the nature and space.
They also mentioned that a majority of the injuries they saw during SXSW were scooter accidents and other accidents related to crowding, with assaults and intoxications being the other main incidents.
Watch the full press conference here:
Sunday's shooting happened in the same area where a mass shooting in June 2021 resulted in the death of a man and left 14 others injured. A 19-year-old man was indicted on a murder charge in connection to the shooting. Meanwhile, an 18-year-old was indicted for tampering with evidence in the case.
RELATED: Council passes more safety improvements for Austin’s entertainment district after mass shooting
The June 2021 mass shooting led the Austin City Council to approve safety improvements in the Sixth Street Entertainment District. The council's latest action happened earlier this month after the group passed Councilmember Kathie Tovo’s second set of actions on safety in the entertainment district.
Recent action taken by the council calls for a lighting study to figure out where additional lighting may be needed, working with business owners to add lighting, having bar owners create written safety plans and train door staff and more.
Before that, back in late 2021, Austin Energy replaced several dozen light fixtures with brighter LED fixtures to improve lighting in response to the council's "Safer 6th Street" resolution. City officials were also working to create a dedicated staging area for first responders in the area.
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