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There have been a number of shootings in the heart of Austin’s entertainment district in recent years.
AUSTIN, Texas – East Sixth Street, where 14 people were injured when gunfire was fired early Saturday morning, has played a pivotal role in Downtown Austin’s business history, which dates back to the 1880s. It was then that many of the Victorian-style buildings that line the street today were built.
During the day, its unique architecture is in the spotlight. But on weekend evenings, when bars and clubs draw thousands, the heart of the city’s entertainment district, sometimes called “Dirty Sixth Street,” gets crowded, loud, and increasingly dangerous.
The neighborhood has been a venue for live music from students and visitors to the city since the 1970s. But in recent years the violence has increased. Many say that the character of Sixth Street and Downtown Austin as a venue has changed for the worst.
Some describe 2014 as a turning point when a driver pursued by Austin police crashed through a barricade on Red River Street and hit a crowd during South by Southwest. Four people died and many were injured.
In July 2016, a woman who was an innocent bystander on Sixth Street was shot dead when a man was about to shoot someone else. Several people were injured.
In 2017, gunshots were fired by police who killed a man who had fired a gun into a crowd on Sixth Street.
On New Year’s Eve 2019, shots were fired into a crowded nightclub on Sixth Street. Nobody was hurt.
In 2020, several groups of people who had fled a coastal hurricane and evacuated to Austin got into an argument near Sixth Street and Brazos. A woman died when someone fired a gun.
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