Four injured after shooting unfolds near SXSW last weekend

A shooting happened in Austin, Texas in the early hours on Sunday morning, the last day of this year’s SXSW Festival. Both Variety and Deadline reported that four people were injured, with authorities responding to shots fired in the city’s entertainment district. It has been confirmed that the shooting took place outside of SXSW or any of its affiliated venues and  events, however.

SXSW, an annual conglomeration of the film, music, and tech industries for a series of conferences and festival activities in Austin, Texas, returned this year after a two year live event hiatus. The 2020 and 2021 editions of the festival were hosted online due to the pandemic.

The four injured were taken to hospital for treatment, and since then police have announced that they have a suspect in custody. Eerily, the events of Sunday morning echo similar events that transpired during SXSW’s last live edition in 2019. A shooting that left one person injured took place near the festival’s centre, but outside of the festival itself and was followed shortly by another shooting incident just blocks away.