Austin police confirmed Saturday that the suspect in what authorities are calling a random stabbing attack that left one man dead is homeless.
Police added that they would likely not give the names of the suspect in custody, the victim or others injured in the attack until Monday.
Hours after the attack Friday, Gov. Greg Abbott, commented on Twitter and speculated that the suspect was homeless.
“When all facts are revealed I bet you’ll learn that the killer was a homeless man with prior arrests,” Abbott tweeted. “If so Austin’s reckless homeless policy puts lives in danger to murders like this. Austin leaders must answer for their perilous policies.”
Austin Mayor Steve Adler responded that the city’s camping policies are irrelevant to the homicide, which was the first in Austin this year.
“Most of the people that are committing murders and committing crimes in our city, we know, are not experiencing homelessness,” Adler said. “So whether this particular person was or was not doesn’t change the nature of the conversation. … To suggest that people experiencing homelessness are criminals is just wrong. It’s like saying that immigrants are rapists. It’s just not true. And beyond that, it’s a harmful thing to suggest. And when people demonize people experiencing homelessness, we all suffer.”
Abbott took to Twitter many times last year to slam the Austin City Council’s changes to its laws regarding where people can camp, sleep and lie in the city.
A friend of the man who died identified the victim on Saturday as Johnathan “John” Aguilar, who had worked at Freebirds World Burrito on South Congress Avenue for eight years.
Brice Bowden said Aguilar was the guy who was always happy and smiling.
“He was a genuine, caring and loving person,” he said Saturday. “You meet these really genuine, beautiful people in this world and when they go early like that it just hurts so much more.”
Bowden said he’d been in contact with Aguilar’s brother and sister-in-law throughout the day Friday following the tragic news. He said Aguilar also leaves behind a child and fiance.
“They were all just really sweet people,” Bowden said.
Police responded just before 8 a.m. Friday to the attack, which began with an assault on a man at Bennu Coffee on the 500 block of South Congress Avenue and ended with a double stabbing at Freebirds in the same shopping complex.
Authorities said the attacker, a 27-year-old man, stabbed two Freebirds employees, one of whom was pronounced dead at the scene. The other was taken to a local hospital in stable but serious condition Friday, police said.
Patrons at Bennu Coffee called Austin police at around 7:50 a.m. while working together to detain the attacker after he randomly assaulted a man who was sitting down with his wife and friends for coffee, according to witnesses and authorities.
As officers pulled up to the coffee shop, the man broke free from the patrons and ran toward Freebirds.
The man who was assaulted at Bennu refused transportation to the hospital, Austin police said.
A Freebirds employee then called 911 and told police two coworkers had been stabbed, according to authorities.
The attacker made his way out onto the restaurant’s roof, where he jumped off, police said. His injuries from the fall were described as life-threatening.
Austin police did not confirm the condition of the attacker Saturday.
On Saturday morning, Bennu Coffee was open and offering customers all drinks for free.
The free coffee was in honor of Aguilar, employees said.
Freebirds was still closed and cleaning supplies could be seen throughout the store. A sign hung at the restaurant’s door saying the location was temporarily closed.
“Our thoughts are with our tribe and their family members,“ the sign says.
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