South Texas Blood & Tissue sends blood units to Austin after 6th Street mass shooting

SAN ANTONIO — South Texas Blood & Tissue worked late last night and early this morning to prepare and send blood units to Austin in the wake of the mass shooting on 6th street early Sunday.

The Blood Emergency Readiness Corp (BERC) has been activated and an additional 140 units have been sent from various blood centers, including O negative and O positive.

The blood bank says community support is critical and community members are encouraged to donate at any local donor center.

3 dead, 14 injured in Austin mass shooting on 6th Street, suspect fatally shot by officers

Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones shared her condolences, adding that commonsense gun reform may prevent such tragedies in the future.

I’m deeply saddened to hear of the mass shooting in Austin that killed and injured so many,” Mayor Jones said in a statement. “Let’s keep our neighbors to the north in our prayers, that those injured recover quickly and the families of the victims who were needlessly murdered are comforted. We must prevent such tragedies from happening through commonsense gun solutions. Thank you to the first responders who were at the scene and prevented further loss of life.

U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro condemned the country’s gun violence in an X post saying in part “Congress must continue to work to end the scourge of gun violence in our country.”

San Antonio’s FBI office is also assisting the Austin Police Department in their investigation, officials shared at a press briefing this morning.

Special Agent Alex Doran said the joint terrorism task force is helping investigate potential early indications of terrorism.

“We have members from our Evidence Response team as well as our many other specialty teams, including our digital forensics folks that are on scene, helping to address the scene and gather additional evidence,” Doran said. “Obviously, it’s still way too early in the process to determine an exact motivation, but there were indicators that on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism. Again, it’s still too early to make a determination on that.”

This is a developing story.