Tag: bar

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Texas authorities identify Austin bar shooting victims

Authorities have identified the three people fatally shot outside a bar in Austin, Texas when a gunman opened fire in the early hours of Sunday.

Ryder Harrington, 19, and Savitha Shan, 21, died in the shooting outside a bar popular with University of Texas students, police said. Authorities announced on Monday that third victim, Jorge Pederson, 30, had also died.

More than a dozen people were injured in the shooting, including some who remain in critical condition.

The alleged gunman, Ndiaga Diagne, was shot and killed by police. The FBI said it was looking into a potential “nexus of terrorism” link to the war in Iran, among other possibilities.

After responding to calls of an active shooter at around 02:00 local time (08:00 GMT) on Sunday near Buford’s bar in Austin, police said they shot and killed the suspect.

Diagne was a naturalised American citizen born in Senegal, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Officials said two of the victims were students but could not yet confirm which university they attended.

“We recognise that this is a very traumatic moment in our city,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said in briefing on Monday, adding: “I cannot imagine the grief, pain and loss these families are feeling today, and my heart is with them.”

Two sources familiar with the investigation told CBS News that the gunman was wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Property of Allah”.

CBS was also told by an official with knowledge of the investigation that officers who searched the gunman’s home found an Iranian flag and pictures of Iranian leaders.

The attack came on the weekend that the US and its ally Israel launched multiple strikes on Iran, killing its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott said federal and state officials would investigate whether the violence had any connections to terrorism.

“We will not rest until every last trail or piece of information is pursued to determine if there’s anybody else involved in this whatsoever,” the governor said in a news briefing on Monday.

“And if so, obviously, we will track them down, find them, and bring them to justice.”

In an earlier briefing, Police Chief Davis said officers who were on patrol in the more popular, crowded bar district known as East Sixth Street quickly responded to reports of a man with a gun at Buford’s, located farther down on West Sixth Street.

She said a man in a large SUV driving by Buford’s put on the vehicle’s hazard lights, rolled down his window and fired a pistol, striking people on the patio and pavement outside the bar.

He parked the vehicle nearby, got out with a rifle and started walking back towards the bar, according to Davis. Three police officers confronted the suspect at an intersection, and shot and killed him.

The SUV was searched and was not carrying explosives, officials said.

However, Acting Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran, from the FBI’s San Antonio office, said there were indications in the SUV and on the suspect that suggested a “nexus to terrorism”.

But Doran said the investigation was in its early stages and he was “not prepared to release those details”.

“We are committed to seeing this process through to the very end,” he said.

Kelson Lee, 25, was within earshot when gunfire erupted at Buford’s. He walked inside to look for a friend, according to the Austin Current.

“I see about seven to eight bodies on the floor,” Lee told the local news outlet. “No-one should ever have to see that.

“I kind of blacked out, froze up. I felt kind of helpless because I wanted to help people.” (BBC)

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Swiss bar blaze suspicions fall on sparklers waved by staff

Moments before flames and smoke engulfed the bar in Switzerland where 40 people died, staff were seen holding aloft sparklers stuck in Champagne bottles, videos posted online showed.

The mini-fireworks were being waved near the basement bar’s low wooden ceiling, covered in thin soundproofing fabric, according to the images on social media.

One video showed the ceiling catching alight and the flames spreading quickly — but revelers initially continuing to dance, unaware of the death trap they were in.

A young man is seen attempting to extinguish the flames with a large white cloth.

Authorities investigating the deadly blaze said they suspected that “sparklers or Bengal candles” sparked the fire.

Witness accounts later relayed to various media said the sparkler parade was a regular “show” for patrons in the bar, which typically drew a young crowd.

The flames spread with terrifying speed in the bar, in the Swiss luxury ski resort town Crans-Montana, which was packed with New Year’s Eve partygoers.

The video which showed the ceiling catching fire went to on capture a scene of panic: people scrambling and screaming in the dark as smoke and flames around them grew bigger.

Elliot Alvarez, a local who had been at a next-door bar with friends, told AFP: “We received a call from a friend who was clearly panicked on the phone and explained that there had apparently been an explosion.”

When he and his friends arrived at the scene, they found the place crawling with emergency responders and “people on the ground being treated, people coming out, burned”.

Police commander Frederic Gisler told reporters that “the red alarm, which mobilizes the fire department, was triggered” immediately when authorities were alerted to the situation.

Passers-by shortly, before 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, had seen smoke coming out of the centrally located bar and called the emergency services.

Less than a minute later, at 1:32 a.m., the first police patrols arrived on the scene. Firefighters and other emergency workers also rushing in.

At that time, inside the bar, flames had engulfed the basement. Smoke was everywhere, also filling the first floor, according to videos.

Outside, bystanders could see flames, later describing scenes of chaos as people tried to break the windows to escape and others, covered in burns, poured into the street.

Young patrons in the bar, disoriented by the smoke and panic, tried to escape through the front door, causing a crush at the exit.

Nathan, who had been in the bar before the blaze, saw burned people streaming out of the site.

“They were asking for help, crying out for help,” he said.

Adrien, a young vacationer from Dijon, France, described on TikTok how he “saw people breaking windows with chairs”.

“They were in a terrible state, covered in blood, their clothes melted … It was a catastrophe.”

Leandre, who was outside, told the Blick newspaper of the “very sad” scene, with “people burned beyond recognition”.

“We tried to rescue them as best we could … tried to cover them, because they had no clothes left,” he said.

“It was really difficult. We tried to pull people out who were conscious, people who were unconscious, and get them to a warm place.”

He said that even the rescue workers “were overwhelmed”, because everything happened so quickly, with “people who were burned alive”.

Edmond Cocquyt, a Belgian tourist, told AFP he saw bodies “covered with a white sheet” and “young people, totally burned, who were still alive … screaming in pain”.

After emergency units at local hospitals filled, many of the injured were transported across Switzerland, and beyond.

Outside a Milan hospital, Umberto Marcucci told reporters he was “thanking the heavens” that his son Manfredi — one of four Italians being treated at the hospital — made it out alive.

“My son is sick but he’s fine, he’s alive,” he said. Manfredi, he said, had been at Le Constellation with many friends and escaped with “burns on 30 to 40 percent of his body”.

“He told me that at a certain point, someone yelled ‘fire’ in the bar area… and from there the fire spread incredibly quickly.” (JapanToday)

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Gunmen kill 9, wound 10 in South Africa bar attack

Nine people were killed when gunmen opened fire at a bar outside Johannesburg early Sunday, police said, in the second such shooting in South Africa this month.

Ten more were wounded in the early morning attack at the tavern in the impoverished Bekkersdal township in a gold mining area around 40 kilometres (25 miles) southwest of the city.

It follows a shooting at a tavern near Pretoria on December 6 when gunmen killed a dozen people, including a three‑year‑old child.

Police initially said 10 people were killed when the Bekkersdal bar was attacked just before 1:00 am (2300 GMT), but later revised the toll downwards.

Most of the attackers were armed with pistols and one had an AK-47 rifle, deputy provincial police commissioner Major General Fred Kekana told SABC television from the scene.

“They entered the tavern and randomly shot at the patrons, unprovoked,” he said.

Three people were killed inside the bar and others as they fled the scene, with the attackers continuing to shoot as they left, he said.

“It’s also reported that after they shot the people, they searched them. They took their valuables, including cell phones,” Kekana said.

The dead included a driver from an online car-hailing service who was driving past.

“It’s pure criminality,” Kekana said. Police launched a manhunt for the attackers and appealed for public assistance.

South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised nation, is grappling with a high crime rate, much of it driven by organised networks and gangs.

The country is awash with legal and illegal firearms and shootings are common, often fuelled by gang rivalry and competition between informal businesses.

The tavern hit in the Pretoria attack earlier this month was an unlicenced outlet in a hostel for migrant workers at Saulsville township.

The dead included children aged three, 12 and 16.

The country was also shocked by the daylight assassination in central Johannesburg last week of a popular former radio presenter known as DJ Warras.

The 40-year-old, whose real name was Warris Stock, was gunned down on December 16 outside a building that he had visited as part of his work with a private security company.

In another high-profile killing, a witness in a corruption inquiry was shot dead in front of his family on December 5, just weeks after testifying against a municipal police chief.

The murder of Marius Van der Merwe, 41, reignited a debate about the targeting of whistleblowers who provide information related to crime and corruption, including the public sector and cases implicating government officials.

South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with an average of 63 people killed each day between April and September, according to police data.

The victims, who had gathered for a traditional ceremony, were aged 14 to 64 years old, and 15 were women. Several men have been arrested. (RFI)