A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Target store in Austin, Texas, on Monday, August 11, killing three people before fleeing and later being arrested.
Austin Police Chief, Lisa Davis described the suspect as a man in his 30s with a “mental health history.” After the shooting, the suspect fled in a stolen car, crashed it, then stole another vehicle from a nearby dealership before being captured.
Emergency responders found three victims at the scene. Two were pronounced dead on arrival, and the third died later in hospital. Their identities have not yet been released.
“This is a very sad day for Austin,” Davis said. “My condolences go out to the families.”
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson called the incident a “devastating situation” and condemned it as a “sickening, cowardly act of gun violence.”
The shooting comes just before the start of the school year, during a busy shopping period. It follows a string of recent high-profile attacks in the US, including an 11-person stabbing at a Walmart in Michigan on 26 July and a mass shooting in New York City that left five dead.
According to the Gun Violence Archive, the US has recorded 9,143 gun-related deaths and 269 mass shootings so far in 2025.
