AUSTIN, Texas — Communities across Austin continue to mourn the losses of six people who were killed in a shooting spree that spread to Austin and San Antonio on Tuesday.
Among those killed were a mother and daughter who lived on Austral Loop in South Austin. On Friday, neighbors of 56-year-old Katherine Short and 30-year-old Lauren Short honored the two women, who they described as "wonderful," "kind" and "beautiful, inside and out."
Rebecca Lusk, a longtime neighbor of the family, described Austral Loop as "close-knit," a place where everyone protects and watches out for one another. She described the Shorts as "passionate Texas A&M Aggies" who loved the color maroon, prompting neighbors to buy maroon ribbons and wrap them around neighborhood trees as a gesture to the family and their memories.
"They are lovely, wonderful people that I don't even know how to say it. Like they're just generous, good people. And this is a tragedy [that] such lovely people have been taken from us as a community, as a neighborhood, from their family," Lusk said. "I hope they see how much they're loved and how much they're going to be missed. You know, I know it doesn't make anything better but maybe it'll help symbolize that we care and they're in our hearts and are in our prayers."
Flowers were also placed outside their home in their memories.
KVUE has reached out to other members of the family, but they have declined to comment.