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AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and the words "Property of Allah" killed two people and wounded 14 early Sunday at a Texas bar, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The FBI is investigating the shooting, which erupted a day after the U.S. and Israel launched an attack on Iran, as a potential act of terrorism.
Police in Austin shot and killed the gunman, who used both a pistol and a rifle to carry out the attack, police said.
The shooting happened outside Buford's Backyard Beer Garden just before 2 a.m. along Sixth Street, a nightlife destination filled with bars and music clubs and only a few miles (kilometers) from the University of Texas at Austin.
Nathan Comeaux, a 22-year-old senior, had spent the evening there with friends and said the bar was "full of college students, probably mostly UT kids, shoulder to shoulder, hundreds just enjoying their nights."
The suspect drove past the bar several times before stopping and shooting from the window of his SUV at people on a patio and in front of the bar, according to Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.
He then parked, got out with a rifle and began shooting at people walking along the street before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him, Davis said. Three of the injured were in critical condition Sunday morning, she said.
The gunman was identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
A student witnesses the gunfire
Comeaux had left the bar to grab pizza at a food truck across the street about 10 minutes before the first gunshots were fired. No one around the pizza truck understood what was happening, he said, with some thinking the noise was fireworks or a loud motorcycle.
Comeaux said he hid behind a bench for about a minute before getting out, and he saw police officers running toward the scene. He pulled out his phone to begin recording. That's when more shots rang out. Comeaux said he saw the suspect turn his gun on police before officers shot him.
He said he knows someone who was shot and guessed that many other UT students do as well.