Texas active shooter alert system has yet to be activated, DPS says

AUSTIN (KXAN) — An alert system meant to notify people of active shooter situations was not activated in the wake of a deadly shooting at a Juneteenth event in Round Rock, law enforcement confirmed to KXAN investigators.

Two people died and 14 others were injured in the incident, sparked by a fight between two groups at the event at Old Settlers Park on Saturday night, Round Rock police said. Police are still searching for the shooting suspect.

A spokesperson for the department said it did not try to activate the Active Shooter Alert System at the time of the shooting because it determined the incident did not meet the criteria required by Texas law for activation.

In fact, the Texas Department of Public Safety said it has yet to receive a request for the system’s activation since its creation in 2021, despite its stated goal of “saving lives and preventing mass violence.”

Representative Brooks Landgraf (R-Odessa) filed legislation to create the system in the wake of a mass shooting that killed seven people and injured 25 others in Odessa in 2019.

It is designed to alert people near active shooter situations through their phones, as well as local broadcast media, the electronic signs on state highways known as “dynamic message signs” and other resources. The idea was to model the warning system after other emergency alerts, such as those used to notify people of abducted children (AMBER Alerts), missing seniors (Silver Alerts), or when members of law enforcement are critically injured (Blue Alerts).

Law enforcement agencies have to request the Active Shooter Alert System’s activation, and the incident must meet several specific criteria:

• An active shooter is in the requesting agency’s jurisdiction
• There is a determination that an Active Shooter Alert would assist individuals near the active shooter’s location
• Verification exists of the active shooter situation through a preliminary investigation by the requesting agency
• The active shooter’s last known location is identifiable

Texas Representative Vikki Goodwin told KXAN she believes it is “tragic” that the system is not being utilized.

“We pass laws to make people safer. This one in particular to let people know if there is an active shooting event going on so they can take precaution,” Goodwin told KXAN. “Nobody was aware that this shooting was going on. Some people said they thought it was fireworks, at first, but then they saw people running. So, I think it would have been helpful for an alert to go out.”

Rep. Goodwin said she believes there is an increased need for public awareness in cases where the suspect has not been apprehended. She first spoke out about the use of this system in December 2023, after a suspect allegedly shot and killed several people in different locations across Travis and Bexar Counties.

At the time, Austin police said they did not request the Active Shooter Alert System because the situation was not an “active shooting event.”

A spokesperson said, “This was a series of events which took place in several different locations across the city with various or unknown motives and no specific commonality.  It is not common practice for APD, or any other law enforcement agency, to issue any sort of alert for every shooting that happens in their jurisdiction with an unidentified shooter.”

Goodwin said she met with DPS and APD to discuss how to use it better, but she “did not really see any appetite for doing that.”

She has heard concerns from law enforcement that people might be “inundated” with alerts and then become numb or desensitized. However, she feels there could be more narrow parameters or guidelines around when the system is activated.

“We get a lot of AMBER Alerts, and so we feel like, ‘Oh my gosh, another amber alert.’ But yet, that one alert at the right moment for the right person might save a life, so why not.”