AUSTIN (KXAN) — The 19-year-old suspect in the June 12 mass shooting in Austin’s iconic Sixth Street district — which ended in one person’s death and the injury of 14 others, has been indicted.
On Monday, a Travis County grand jury officially indicted De’Ondre White with murder, after being held in a Killeen jail for months on a $1 million bond. He was also indicted for 14 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The shooting happened at around 1:30 a.m., in the middle of the city’s bustling downtown live music and bar hub — just three months after nightlife venues were able to open after mass pandemic closures. But the revelry was cut short as shots fired in the streets.
Video taken by witnesses at the scene shows a panicked crowd taking cover as bullets flew. Austin police were seen pulling victims from the ground and rushing them to paramedics. Some officers even drove the injured to hospitals themselves. The area was too crowded for ambulances to get through otherwise.
Twenty-five year-old Douglas Kantor was visiting Austin from Michigan. The New York state native was a product manager in the Ford Motor Company’s IT department and was earning a master’s degree in business at the University of Michigan. His family said he was also preparing to marry his girlfriend of 10 years.
But Kantor died from his injuries the day after the shooting. Kantor’s family said he was shot through the abdomen, just below the rib cage.
“He suffered from the time of the injury until time of death, it was the most gruesome thing I could think to wish on someone,” Kantor’s brother, Nick Kantor told KXAN. “It’s painful to discuss, but I think the public deserves to know what my brother suffered.”
White was arrested in Killeen on June 24, as more details came out about the shooting.
It was determined that the shooting began as a fight between two rival groups of teenagers and young adults from Killeen. Acquaintances of the 19 year-old White were interviewed by police and named White as the shooter, saying that White fired several rounds at the other group from the street curb.
The information matched the location of cartridge cases found at the scene, in addition to the locations of the victims.
White was interviewed by Austin police before being released to Killeen, where he reportedly claimed to have fired back at the group after hearing gunshots from the other group. But detectives said this didn’t line up with the evidence.
“No victims were located on the sidewalk and no projectile defects were located in the building behind [White’s group],” an affidavit read.
He’s currently considered to be the sole shooter and to have used one gun.
The Travis County District Attorney’s Office says it’s still investigating any possible role two other teens may have played in the incident. They were originally arrested in connection with the shooting, but later released and their charges dropped.
This is a developing story.