Federal and local law enforcement officials are continuing to investigate on Monday a possible terrorism motive in a mass shooting over the weekend in Austin, Texas, in which a suspect killed two people and injured more than a dozen others before being fatally shot by police.
During a news conference on Monday, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis identified the two victims killed in the shooting as 24-year-old Savitha Shan, a student at the University of Texas, and 22-year-old Ryder Harrington, a student at Texas Tech University.
Davis said three victims injured in the shooting on Sunday remain hospitalized in critical condition, but one was scheduled to be removed from life support on Monday. A total of 14 victims were injured in the shooting, police officials said at an earlier news conference.
The suspect has been identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with knowledge of the matter told ABC News.
Obtained by ABC News.
The FBI said on Sunday it was investigating a possible terrorism motive for the shooting, which began outside a bar in Austin’s busy downtown West Sixth Street entertainment district.
The suspect has been identified as Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal, sources with knowledge of the matter told ABC News.
Davis said the suspect was living in Pflugerville, Texas, a suburb of Austin.
The suspect was wearing a sweatshirt that referenced Allah and a T-shirt underneath that referenced Iran, multiple sources with knowledge of the investigation told ABC News.
Austin police officers work at the scene after a deadly mass shooting outside Buford’s, a popular roadhouse-style bar in Austin, Texas, U.S. March 1, 2026.
Nuri Vallbona/Reuters
ABC News has obtained a photograph taken of the suspect after he was killed that shows he was wearing a T-shirt with the Iranian flag on it. Chief Davis said on Monday that the suspect’s T-shirt also had the image of the late Shah of Iran.
In 1979, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown in the Iranian Revolution, which ushered in the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
A day before the Austin shooting, a major military operation in Iran was launched by the U.S. and Israel, which killed Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, the supreme leader of the country who had succeeded Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini upon his death in 1989.
“Our ultimate goal in everything we do is determine a motive,” said Alex Doran, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s San Antonio field office. “We’re looking for connections that he [the suspect] possibly had.”
Doran announced on Sunday that investigators were probing terrorism as a possible motive, saying, “There were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism.”
During Monday’s news conference, Doran said it would be premature to make a determination on motive.
“We are poring through thousands of hours of video. We have massive amounts of digital and physical evidence. And this is an around-the-clock, 24-hour investigation at this point,” Doran said.
Doran added, “We want to make sure that we have our facts 100%.”
Davis said investigators are interviewing about 150 witnesses.
Davis said police are still going over the suspect’s criminal history and plan to release details later this week.
She said the gun the suspect used in the shooting was purchased legally in 2017 in San Antonio.
Davis said 911 callers began reporting a shooting on West Sixth Street in downtown Austin just before 2 a.m. on Sunday. She said the 911 callers stated that someone was shooting around Buford’s Bar.
Davis said the suspect drove a large SUV several times around the block that Buford’s is located on, firing a gun at people out of his rolled-down window, striking patrons of the bar on the establishment’s patio and outside the front door.
Davis said the suspect then parked his vehicle, got out and opened fire on people gathered on the sidewalk.
The suspect was killed in a confrontation with police officers, who were already staged in the city’s entertainment district when the shooting broke out, Davis said.
A law enforcement unit sits at the entrance to Buford’s bar in downtown Austin, Texas, March 01, 2026, in Austin, after a mass shooting left three people, including the alleged gunman, dead and 14 others hospitalized.
Brandon Bell/Getty Images
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said that due to the quick response of police and emergency medical services, “Multiple lives were saved.”
Harrington, one of the victims killed in the rampage, was a student at Texas Tech University and was an active member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity, which released a statement about him.
“Ryder was a beloved son, brother, and friend whose kindness and presence touched countless lives,” his fraternity said. “From the moment he joined our brotherhood, he brought a light that was impossible to ignore.”
The fraternity added, “Ryder had a rare ability to enjoy life, to make people laugh, to make moments feel bigger, and to make ordinary days unforgettable. If anyone embodied what it meant to live fully and love deeply, it was Ryder.”
Shan, the other victim killed in the shooting, was a student at the University of Texas, officials said.
Ryder Harrington, a student at Texas Tech University, seen here in a photo provided on Instagram by his fraternity, was one of two victims killed in Sunday’s mass shooting in Austin, Texas.
@ttubeta/Instagram
“Today, it was confirmed that among those who lost their lives is one UT student. A child of loving parents. A loyal friend to many. A Longhorn preparing to change the world,” Jim Davis, president of the University of Texas, said in a statement about Shan. “It is devastating, and I know all of us are grieved by this horrible news and we will remember her.”
Jim Davis also said a number of University of Texas students sustained injuries in the attack.
“Some of these are very serious and we are hoping for the best outcomes, while others are on the path to recovery,” Jim Davis said. “I have met with many of these families and will continue to pray for them. All of the families, friends, and loved ones affected by this tragedy will need time for grief and healing, and we offer them our full support.”
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