Police presence on E. 6th Street. Photo by MetroVideo.
Austin, TX police were the heroes in Saturday morning's shooting on E. 6th Street. E. 6th, or "dirty 6th," is the primary party street in Austin, similar to Beele Street in Memphis, and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. As such, it is blocked off from vehicle traffic every weekend. Bars blare music from open doors, and people, mostly college age and early twenties, wait in lines to get into clubs.
That was the scene on Saturday morning around 1:24 a.m. when shooting started. Austin Police Department has always had a strong presence on E. 6th because of the amount of drinking and partying that goes on there. This weekend there's a motorcycle rally, with many bikers spending time on E. 6th street, and that's one of the events during which police presence is increased.
Austin police have captured one of the shooters and are aware of the identity of the other, but have not revealed their identities as of Sunday, June 13, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.
Catching the shooters so quickly is commendable. However, their best and finest response was in rendering aid to the wounded. Police used their first aid kits to staunch bleeding and apply tourniquets to wounds, saving the lives of some of the victims. Two are still in critical condition, however all the wounded survived.
Austin police also carried victims to ambulances and to their own police cars to transport them to nearby hospitals. Under interim Police Chief Joseph Chacon, rendering aid has become a first priority for Austin Police.
It's clear that a strong police presence saved lives, while not preventing the shooting. Many people believe more police is the answer. That was not the case in this shooting, where there was a large show of police.
Those same people support the recent bill passed by the Texas State Legislature allowing what they are calling "constitutional carry," which allows residents to carry guns without a license. “This is a simple restoration of Texans’ constitutional right under the Second Amendment, a right of the people to keep and bear arms,” the Senate sponsor, Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, says, “I think it is a bill that is the strongest bill I’ve seen in my legislative career regarding the rights of our Second Amendment.”
Apparently, the shooters on E. 6th Street in the early morning of June 12, 2021 were exercising their constitutional right to carry. They weren't deterred by police presence from using those guns. Fortunately, the police were prepared to render aid.