Further disturbing details have come forward from the tragic incident that left two dead and 23 injured at the South by Southwest music festival. Police identified Rashad Charjuan Owens, age 21, as the suspect who drove a Honda into a crowd at the festival. Austin police chief Art Acevedo also confirmed that Owens had "intentionally" run down victims.
Sources cited by CNN's coverage yesterday claimed that the driver of the vehicle seemed to be swerving to hit pedestrians, but police only stated that Owens was attempting to flee officers that suspected him of driving under the influence of alcohol. Acevedo confirmed that the incident began when Owens tried to escape, but the suspect began to deliberately aim for concertgoers as his own escape seemed less likely.
Owens has an appallingly long list of violations to his name. He'd been previously arrested in Texas for criminal trespassing, and had been caught drunk driving while he briefly lived in Alaska during 2011. The latter incident resulted in charges for driving under the influence and consumption by a minor, but prosecutors allowed him to avoid charges for leaving the scene of an accident. That dropped charge is a particularly bitter pill now.
The vehicle Owens was driving turned out to be stolen as well. A soldier at Fort Hood in nearby Killeen reported the vehicle as stolen on Thursday morning, hours after the tragedy occurred.
Reports that Owens intentionally ran down pedestrians does not bode well for his case. He's already facing two charges for capital murder, along with 23 charges for aggravated assault. The former charges could carry the death penalty in Texas, even if they hadn't been intentional.
Eight of the injured remained hospitalized late Thursday, with two in critical condition. Three of the injured had been upgraded from critical to serious condition.
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