FBI official says evidence found on the suspect and in his car indicated a ‘potential nexus to terrorism’
The FBI’s joint terrorism taskforce has been called in to help investigate a deadly mass shooting in downtown Austin, Texas, on Sunday morning in which a gunman opened fire in front of a bar popular with university students, killing two people and injuring 14 others before being fatally shot by police.
An FBI official, Alex Doran, told reporters at a press conference that it was too early to determine the shooter’s motivation. But he added that evidence found on the suspect and in his car indicated a “potential nexus to terrorism”.
CBS News reported that officials had identified the suspect as Ndiaga Diagne, who came to the US in 2006 from Senegal and is a naturalized American citizen. He was naturalized in 2013, the news channel said, having spent some years in New York before moving to Texas.
Law enforcement sources told the news channel that in addition to investigating potential terrorist motivations, investigators are also looking at the suspect’s previous history of mental health issues.
