Well, let me tell ya, things ain’t been so good in Austin lately. Heard on the TV ’bout that mass casualty thing, real mess it was. Folks just tryin’ to have a good time, and then somethin’ like that happens. Makes ya think, don’t it?
This happened down on Sixth Street, they say. Now, I ain’t never been to Sixth Street, but I hear it’s a place where young folks go to have fun. Bars and music and all that. But seems like it ain’t so safe no more. This shooting, they call it a mass casualty event, killed one young fella, just 25 years old, they say. Poor mama, gotta bury her boy. And a whole bunch of others got hurt, too. Thirteen, maybe fourteen, the news was sayin’. That’s a whole lotta hurtin’ folks.
They say it happened early in the mornin’, when folks was just leavin’ the bars, I guess. Heard tell it was the worst thing to happen in Austin in seven years. Seven years! That’s a long time to be peaceful, then somethin’ like this blows it all to pieces. Makes ya wonder what the world’s comin’ to, it does.
Now, the police, they’re tryin’ to figure it all out. Listenin’ to those scanners, they was. You know, those radio things they talk on. Heard ’em talkin’ all confused and whatnot. Tryin’ to get folks to the hospital, tryin’ to catch the ones who did it. Chaos, that’s what it was. Pure chaos.
And the city folks, they’re sayin’ they wanna make Sixth Street safer. Well, I should hope so! They been talkin’ about it for a while now, ever since somethin’ bad happened back in 2021, too. But talk is cheap, ain’t it? You gotta do somethin’ to make things better. Can’t just sit around and jaw about it.
- They need more police, maybe.
- Or maybe they need to close them bars down earlier.
- Or somethin’. I don’t know, I ain’t no expert. I just know folks are scared.
It’s been a year now since that Sixth Street mass shooting, and they’re still talkin’ about it. Still tryin’ to figure out how to stop it from happenin’ again. They got these violence prevention programs and all, but seems like it ain’t enough. This crisis, it’s bigger than just one street, I reckon. It’s a problem with the whole darn world, if you ask me.
Heard tell it was back in June, June twelfth, to be exact. A Monday, it was. Folks just startin’ their week, and then bam! Their lives are changed forever. That poor fella who died, and all those others who got hurt. And their families, too. It’s a ripple effect, this violence. It touches everyone, even folks like me who just hear about it on the TV.
Now they’re talkin’ about coordination and crisis response. Seems like the city and the police and all them, they gotta work together better. Gotta be prepared for these things. But how can you prepare for somethin’ like this? It’s just… senseless. That’s the word. Senseless.
Austin used to be a nice place, or so I heard. But now… well, I don’t know what to think no more. Seems like everywhere you turn, there’s somethin’ bad happenin’. Makes a body wanna just stay home and lock the doors, it does. But you can’t live your life in fear, can ya? Gotta keep on keepin’ on, I guess. But it ain’t easy, that’s for sure.
And the news keeps talkin’ about it. KXAN, that’s the channel I watch sometimes. They got this lady, Jaclyn Ramkissoon, she’s always reportin’ on this stuff. Seems like it’s all she ever talks about anymore. Mass shootings and violence and whatnot. Breaks your heart, it does.
So, what’s the answer? I wish I knew. More police? Tougher laws? Better mental health care? Maybe all of them things. Or maybe somethin’ else entirely. All I know is, somethin’ gotta change. Folks can’t keep livin’ like this. Scared and worried all the time. It ain’t right. It just ain’t right.
Tags: [Austin, Mass Casualty, Sixth Street, Shooting, Downtown Austin, KXAN, Violence, Crisis, Safety]