Vendor Evicted From City-Wide Garage Sale Arrested For Threatening Shooting At South Austin Event

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- A man has been arrested after warning of an imminent shooting at the City-Wide Garage Sale at the Palmer Events Center over the weekend.

The arrest was made on Saturday, but details on the incident were just released Monday via an arrest affidavit. In a report based on that document, the Austin American-Statesman reported the police got a call Saturday shortly after 10 a.m. from a woman concerned that her friend, 65-year-old Jack Dwenger, was upset about having been kicked out of the event the day before.

The man had been a vendor at the event for the past 20 years. The City-Wide Garage Sale is a regular event featuring dozens of vendors selling all manner of merchandise on weekends. On its website, organizers write the vintage market has been staged since 1977.

While officials investigated, a 911 dispatcher received a telephone call during which a man said there would be a shooting at the garage sale within the hour, the Statesman reported. Police responded to the threat by setting up a perimeter around the events center and limiting traffic access to the area.

Police later found Dwenger about a third of a mile away from the Palmer Events Center about an hour after the call was made. Officers found a handgun and shotgun inside his vehicle, the report read.

Dwenger was booked into Travis County Jail on a charge of making a terroristic threat. He was released over the weekend, the Statesman reported, but is currently wanted on a warrant for the same offense.

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