Witnesses give conflicting testimony on how many guns fired in Sixth Street shooting
Did the shots fired on Sixth Street when Douglas Kantor was killed and 13 people were injured in June 2021 come from just one gun?
Witnesses gave conflicting testimony about that issue on Wednesday during the trial of De'ondre White, who is charged with murder in Kantor's death.
Mahkaylen Jackson, 20, one of the people who was injured that night, testified that his friend Tyshawn Degrate also had fired shots that night. Jackson said he never saw Degrate fire the shots, but that after the shooting he saw his friend's gun had no bullets in it. Jackson testified he had seen a few bullets in his friend's gun before the shooting.
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But Degrate testified late Wednesday afternoon that he never fired his gun and had never threatened to shoot it.
Defense attorney William Browning tried to cast doubt on Jackson's testimony, telling Jackson that Jackson had previously told prosecutors and police that he had seen Degrate fire his gun. Jackson repeated in court on Wednesday that he didn't see Degrate fire his gun.
Jackson said he had gone to Sixth Street with some of his siblings and friends on the night of June 11, 2021. They had come from Killeen to celebrate his sister's birthday, he said. As they walked past a group of people, he said he recognized a teenager named J.T. because they had both attended Manor Middle School.
Jackson said Degrate, who was carrying a gun, "had words" with J.T. Jackson testified that he couldn't hear what they said, but it sounded like J.T. and Degrate were fighting.
Jackson said he then saw another guy standing in a group behind J.T., and the guy had his arm around a partner and was holding a gun.
"What happened at that point?" asked prosecutor Habon Mohamed. "Shots rang out," said Jackson. "A lot of shots was fired."
He later said he heard seven shots and then four additional shots. During the shooting, Jackson said, he saw Degrate crouching by a motorcycle.
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Jackson said he began running but tripped, and that's when he noticed his leg was bleeding and his brother, who was with him, was wounded with bloody hands. They headed back to their car and that's where Jackson said he saw his friend with the empty gun that had had bullets in it before the shooting.
Jackson said he initially thought that the guy who was holding a gun and standing in a group behind J.T. was somebody else he knew from Killeen. When police put out a photo of White, however, that's when Jackson said he recognized White as the person holding the gun behind J.T.
Jackson, who was on probation at time because he had a gun that had gone off in his sister's house, said he was not a gang member and was wearing a hoodie that hot night because he was anemic and needed to stay warm.
"Why aren't you wearing a sweatshirt today?" asked Browning. "It's court," said Jackson.
De'ondre White, 22, is on trial for the shooting death of Kantor, a New York tourist, on Sixth Street downtown on June 12, 2021, in an incident that left 13 other people injured.
Prosecutors have said they had evidence to show that White, of Killeen, was the sole shooter and that he fired eight times at a group of people with whom he and his friends had an ongoing dispute. White's attorneys have argued that he was retaliating against a group of people who had pulled a weapon first.
White is charged with murder, a first-degree felony, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony. He faces up to 99 years on the murder charge and up to 20 years on the assault charge.
The downtown Austin shooting was the worst mass casualty event the city had seen in nearly a decade.
It happened about 1:25 a.m. June 12, 2021, when Sixth Street was particularly busy because of the Republic of Texas motorcycle rally. One police officer estimated the number of people on Sixth Street likely jumped by about 10,000, with people walking nearly "shoulder to shoulder."
Kantor, a New York native, was visiting friends in Austin when he was shot.
Travis County Deputy Medical Examiner Dr. Vickie Willoughby testified earlier Tuesday that Kantor was shot twice, including once in the chest. One of the bullets entered the right side of his chest and went through his diaphragm, his liver, his pancreas, his stomach and his colon before exiting, she said.
The other bullet entered and exited his left forearm, she said. Kantor lived for a day in a hospital after he was shot, the deputy medical examiner said.
Since there was no soot around the wounds or any abrasions, she said, the shooter would have been at least 1½ feet to 2 feet away.
Defense attorney Russ Hunt asked her if she could tell if the bullets hit anything else before striking Kantor. Willoughby said she could not tell.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Witnesses differ on how many guns fired in 2021 Sixth Street shooting
