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A third person who was injured in a Texas bar shooting early Sunday has died, Austin officials said Monday night.
Jorge Muñoz-Pederson, 30, died as a result of the shooting on Sixth Street that also killed Ryder Harrington and Savitha Shan, Austin police said.
More than a dozen other people were wounded as the violence unfolded just outside a popular beer garden in downtown Austin. The suspect, who was fatally shot by officers, had a history of mental illness, sources familiar with the investigation told NBC News.
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis and Alex Doran, a special agent with the San Antonio FBI field office, said the suspect was not a previously known threat to either of their offices. Davis said the guns used in the shooting were acquired legally in San Antonio in 2017.
Authorities are still working to determine a motive in the shooting, including whether it was an act of terrorism.
Harrington, 19, was a Texas Tech University student, according to social media posts from his siblings and from a local politician.
“Ryder was the best mix of all the Harrington crew,” his brother, Reed Harrington, wrote on Facebook in a post confirming his death. He said the entire family appreciates the condolences they have received.
“It is unfair, to say the least, that my little brother was only given 19 years on this earth,” Reed Harrington wrote. “Watching the man he had become, and seeing all the lives he touched, leaves me certain that this world was robbed of a great future.”
The brother added, “I don’t think life will ever feel normal again. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, but I know you will always be there to guide me and be my mentor.”
Harrington’s sister, Reagan Harrington, called him her “best friend” in an Instagram post memorializing him, adding, “I can’t believe you aren’t with me right now.”
“Nothing would be enough to express how special you are to me,” Reagan Harrington wrote. “I’m not sure how we’re meant to work through this — all I can think about is seeing you again.”
Ryan Harrington, the fourth of the siblings, also posted about Harrington’s death on Instagram.
“I’m gonna miss my brother,” Ryan Harrington wrote.
Harrington’s death was also confirmed by his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi. According to the chapter’s Instagram post, Harrington was a part of the fall 2024 pledge class.
“From the moment he joined our brotherhood, he brought a light that was impossible to ignore,” the Beta Theta Pi post read. “Ryder had a rare ability to truly enjoy life to make people laugh, to make moments feel bigger, and to make ordinary days unforgettable.”
Beta Theta Pi will be hosting a candlelight vigil to honor their brother on Monday at 8 p.m., the post said. The chapter also started a GoFundMe to support Harrington’s family.
State House Speaker Dustin Burrows posted about Harrington’s death on X and said the teen is the brother-in-law of one of his team members.
“From all accounts, Ryder was exactly the kind of young man who made a difference without even trying — full of life, loyal to his friends, proud to be a Red Raider and a Texan, and someone who showed up for the people around him,” Burrows wrote.
He added that he is praying for the Harrington family and “everyone who loved Ryder — the number appears to be countless.”
Pederson, who pronounced his name like “George,” was born in Minneapolis and spent most of his childhood in Glenwood, Minnesota, his mother, Nancy Pederson, told NBC News.
He graduated from a central Minnesota high school and later from North Dakota State University with a degree in marketing, she said.
After graduation, Pederson’s mother said, he worked for a medical device company and often traveled internationally for his job. He then started a moving company with a childhood friend.
She said he recently sold his share of the company and moved to Austin two weeks ago.
Pederson lived a healthy lifestyle, and MMA was a big part of his life, his mother said, adding that he expected to fight in his first professional bout in May in Minnesota.
A senior who excelled academically, Shan had already secured a post-graduation position at a major consulting firm, her parents said in a statement shared with NBC affiliate KXAN of Austin.
She was their only child.
“Savitha was a bright, compassionate, and deeply caring young woman whose presence brought warmth, comfort, and joy to everyone who knew her,” the family said. “She believed in working hard, serving others, and living with integrity.”
Shan volunteered when she wasn’t studying and was a true believer in community service, her parents added.
“Her sudden and heartbreaking passing has left an irreplaceable void in our lives and in the lives of all who loved her,” they said.
In a social media post, Russ Finney, an assistant professor at the McCombs School of Business where Shan studied, called Shan a “superstar” student and “light in the classroom.”
“She was a double major with honors. Involved in student organizations — a light in the classroom. Absolutely crushing to lose her,” Finney posted on X.
The shooting took place early Sunday outside Buford’s, a popular beer garden in downtown Austin.
Three people were taken to the hospital in critical condition, Robert Luckritz, chief of the county’s emergency medical services, said Sunday.
On Monday, Davis, the police chief, said one of those three patients would be taken off life support later in the day. Austin police announced Pederson’s death Monday night.
The two others are still in critical condition, she added.
The shooter has been identified as 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne. Officers shot and killed him shortly after the attack, police said.
Diagne was a Senegalese national and a naturalized U.S. citizen living in Pflugerville, Texas, four law enforcement officials told NBC News. At the time of the shooting, he wore a sweatshirt that said “Property of Allah” and a shirt underneath bearing an Iranian-flag theme.
Diagne appeared to have acted alone and had no ties to the state, according to sources who emphasized that the investigation is in its preliminary stages.
A Homeland Security official told NBC News that Diagne first entered the U.S. on March 13, 2000, on a B-2 tourist visa. He became a lawful permanent resident in 2006 based on marriage to a U.S. citizen and a naturalized citizen in 2013, the official said. He was arrested in 2022 in Texas for a collision with vehicle damage, the official said.
On Sunday, Doran said, “There were indicators that on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” but noted that it is “still too early to make a determination on that.”
Davis said at a news conference Sunday that Diagne may have circled Buford’s in his car before rolling his window down, striking patrons on the bar’s front patio using a pistol.
He then parked the car, got out holding a rifle, and shot people who were walking by, Davis said. Officers encountered the man along West Sixth Street, which is when they shot him.
Buford’s is 2 miles from the heart of the University of Texas at Austin campus and less than a mile from the Texas Capitol Building.
Other Texas officials offered their prayers and condolences for the victims, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who warned anyone who “thinks about using the current conflict in the Middle East to threaten Texans.”
He appeared to be talking about the joint military operations of the U.S. and Israeli governments against Iran, which killed the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rebecca Cohen is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
Alicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.
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