Austin shooting near SXSW leaves at least one person injured
Austin police confirmed the news late Saturday night
Police block off an area of 6th Street after two shootings July 31, 2016 in downtown Austin, Texas. Austin Police say shots rang out in the city's entertainment district around 2:17 a.m. A woman in her 20s was killed and three women in their 30s were listed in serious but non-life threatening condition, according to published reports.
Drew Anthony Smith/Getty Images
A shooting near the center of the SXSW festival left one person injured Saturday night. Austin Police Department confirmed one person was transported to the hospital. Multiple people were detained.
The shooting took place on 6th Street, a street at the heart of the annual conference and festival. An early report from Deadline says, "while tonight’s shooting did not actually occur at a SXSW venue or event, it was as close as you can get to the 32-year old gathering without getting in the door, so to speak."
Billboard reports this was the second shooting that took place just blocks away from each other in Austin on Saturday night. Earlier that day, three other shootings in Austin sent five people to the hospital. According to the publication, one of the Saturday morning shootings occurred "near the epicenter of SXSW."
"I want to point out here that as a result of the shooting that occurred last night, we had shifted our resources, and we had approximately 50 officers working this intersection between 6th Street and 7th Street," Austin police chief Brian Manley explained. "This comes on the heels of what has been a violent weekend in Austin where we have seen multiple shootings -- and this is unacceptable. We are not going to let our entertainment district be turned into a place where shootings become a common occurrence."