2 Seriously Hurt In 6th Street Shooting: Austin EMS

AUSTIN, TX — Two people were seriously injured after being shot at a bar along 6th Street early Sunday, medics said.

Emergency officials descended to the Terminal 6 bar, 302 E. 6th St., amid reports of gunshots. Upon arrival just before 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, Austin-Travis County EMS medics transported two adults to hospitals for medical treatment — a man sustaining critical, life-threatening injuries and a woman with serious, potentially life-threatening injuries, medics said via Twitter.

No further details were released, and it's unknown if any arrests have been made.

In the aftermath of Sunday's shooting, the Austin Police Association released a statement written by a local police officer who's worked in the Downtown Area Command (DTAC) for the past four years who witnessed he violence. The officer condemned not only the violence but the uncooperative revelers who ignored police commands to leave the scene.

UPDATE: 6th Street Shooter Still At Large

"Just another night on Dirty 6th!" the statement begins. "The most appalling part of this was the violently uncooperative crowd around the scene that refused to follow police orders resulting in multiple arrests while two critically injured shooting victims lay on the ground."

The officer was struck by the lack of cooperation of bystanders: "Disgusting display of human compassion and outrageous behavior that is celebrated and encouraged by far too many people these days," the officer wrote. "Thankfully there wasn’t more than two people injured."

Among the bars lining the 6th Street entertainment corridor, Terminal 6 has emerged as arguably the most violence prone. An expansive dance area fronts the ample bar on the first floor, with added space upstairs in the usually packed club where fights and scrapes often break out.

Last year, rapper Aquantis Jaymond Grifin, 21, was shot by police behind Terminal 6. Police later said they responded to gunshots at around 1 a.m. before confronting the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, rapper in an alley behind the bar where he had previously performed. He was shot multiple times after police allege he charged at an officer while clutching a firearm.

In March, police scrambled to multiple shootings along 6th Street over the course of a single weekend along the entertainment corridor. The violence forced police to refocus on enforcement along the stretch that's already heavily fortified by officers lining streets that are closed to traffic each weekend to safeguard the crowds. After the multiple gunshot incidents last March, police vowed to crack down on establishments where reports of violence are most common.

In what amounts to a routine roundup of sorts, mounted police each weekend travel down the length of the closed-off 6th Street entertainment corridor while blowing hard on whistles in encouraging revelers to clear the street at closing time. Photo by Tony Cantú/Patch staff.