AUSTIN, Texas — Austin residents and tourists alike returned in droves on Saturday night to the city’s iconic 6th Street entertainment district less than 24 hours after a shooting took place there.
Behind the usual road barriers, the streets brimmed with largely maskless crowds hailing from across Texas and the U.S., including children visiting with family and hundreds of motorcyclists attending the 2021 Republic of Texas Bike Rally.
Among the packed sidewalks and bars was hardly an emotional trace of the shooting, which took place on Saturday morning around 1 a.m.
The shooting left at least 14 people were injured, two of whom were in critical condition as of 1:15 p.m later that day, marking the incident as the city's most significant mass casualty event since 2014. Austin police have since arrested one man in connection with the shooting, while a second suspect remains at large.
'I'm ready to have fun and move past this'
Rather than mourn, the crowd on Saturday night pulsed with music and noise in every direction as an impromptu parade of bikers cruised down the center of the road, driving right over now-faint oil and blood stains on the 400 block of East 6th Street. By 9 p.m., the street's full sidewalks and bars were already overflowing.
In one bar at the entertainment district's entrance, a live band blasted The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down."
"I'm ready to have fun and move past this," said Paige Wagner, an Austin resident waiting in line outside the doors of the Vulcan Gas Company. Wagner had moved to Austin from Michigan two months prior, but remained undeterred by Saturday's violence, despite standing mere feet away in another bar when it happened.
Thanks to efficient staff members and the police who responded, Wagner briefly felt scared but mostly safe at the time, she said.
Other revelers felt mostly secure in returning to the scene as well, including 27-year-old Nia Sandoval, an Austin resident celebrating her birthday with friends at The Aquarium, among other bars. Sandoval only heard about the shooting two hours before getting to 6th Street, but decided to go out anyways, she said.
“I mean, honestly I don’t really care," she said. "I don’t feel not safe but I don’t feel, like, safe either. I feel like you could die wherever you are.”
Travis Perrine said he had been on 6th Street the night before but left before the shooting took place. The bars and live music were what made coming out again worth it, he said. In reality, Perrine said he felt more unsafe by "bull—," and "ridiculous" gun laws in Texas.
Gun control remains at the center of controversy in the Lone Star State, especially in its capitol where Republicans recently passed a measure allowing anyone 21 and older to publicly carry a handgun without a permit, among other relaxed restrictions.
Police presence on 6th Street for ROT Rally Saturday night
Austin police officers lined each intersection of the 6th Street entertainment area throughout the night, standing on watch for further violence and tame drunken brawls.
On-duty officers could not say whether APD presence was in direct relation to the shooting, but acknowledged a slightly higher level of vigilance because of the ROT Rally. At an emergency press conference on Saturday afternoon, Interim Police Chief Joe Chacon said approximately five shifts of officers collaborated to respond to the shooting.
Employees on 6th Street also expressed general comfort with returning to the area, noting that the police responded quickly to contain the situation the night before.
“When we heard the gunshots we we we ran inside and close the doors and pushed everybody to the back of the ... bar," said Boris Huang, a bouncer at Two Bucks. Seeing more police visible on the street set Huang at ease, he said.
Pedicab driver Carlos McBeath, who has biked customers to and from 6th Street for six years now, believes the shooting was an isolated incident, he said. McBeath expected an uninterrupted flow of customers, he said. As he was speaking, at 10 p.m., the streets only grew busier.
Several visitors even brought teenagers and children to the area with them, including Natalie Ramirez's family, who were showing her around the historic area, although she could not enter most bars because she is too young, she said.
Twelve-year-old Alan Tovar Daniel Benavides, of Pflugerville, said he and his mother were not aware of the shooting, but he was excited to stay out with her that night as long as she let him. Benavides had already been to 6th Street at least eight times before too, he said.
Bar patron Anderson Lawrence, had not heard about the shooting either, he said. Lawrence had driven to Austin from Dallas to come to 6th Street on Saturday night, an activity he has done before, he said.
“If I knew that (the shooting happened), I probably would have went ahead and canceled my reservation," he said. "But, I mean, that’s America.”
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