The incident took place at around 01:30 am in the Sixth Street Entertainment District area, which authorities said was crowded and back to pre-COVID levels of visitors, according to Austin Police Department Interim Chief Joseph Chacon.
Chacon said police believe two men argued and one, or both, began shooting at each other.
"There are two male suspects, he said. "I will say that I feel, I feel that we are going to be successful in getting them into custody."
"This does appear to be an isolated incident between two parties so that's why I say that most of the victims were innocent bystanders but we're still sorting out all of the victims to see what their involvement is in this case," he added.
At the time of the briefing, two victims were in critical condition but none had died, which Chacon credited to the quick action of police officers who transported six victims in police cars.
The FBI, ATF, Texas Department of Public Safety are all assisting the Austin Police Department in the investigation.
