A gunman opened fire in the parking lot of a Target store in Austin, Texas, killing three people on Monday. According to authorities, the attacker, a man in his 30s with a “mental health history,” fled the scene in a stolen car, which he later crashed. He then stole another car from a nearby dealership before being captured. Chief of Police Lisa Davis described the incident as a “very sad day for Austin” and offered her condolences to the families of the victims.
The attack occurred shortly before schools restart in the country, a time when shopping is typically busy. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson called the incident a “devastating situation” and expressed his sympathy for the victims and their families. “My heart is with the victims and their families,” he said. “While this remains an active and ongoing investigation, what I’ll say is that this was a sickening, cowardly act of gun violence.”
The Target attack comes just over two weeks after an attack at a Walmart store in Michigan, where a man stabbed 11 people. In late July, a 27-year-old man fatally shot five people in Midtown Manhattan, marking the deadliest shooting in the city in over two decades. Gun violence has been a leading driver of crime in the US, with 9,143 gun-related deaths and 269 mass shootings recorded so far in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archives.
The incident highlights the ongoing concerns about gun violence in the US, with many calling for stricter gun control laws to prevent such tragedies. As the investigation into the Target attack continues, authorities are working to determine the motive behind the shooting and whether any additional measures can be taken to prevent similar incidents in the future.