Criminal Justice and Sentencing

Fox‑obtained court and police records show that Ndiaga Diagne, the 53‑year‑old suspect in the March 1, 2026 mass shooting outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in downtown Austin, had a 2022 Texas felony hit‑and‑run charge reduced to a misdemeanor and ultimately dismissed after a plea deal and deferred adjudication. A Texas Highway Patrol report alleges Diagne forced another vehicle into a median in Washington County on Dec. 5, 2022, then fled the scene and later denied involvement despite damage to his Cadillac Escalade consistent with the crash, before pleading guilty in January 2024 to a lesser "accident involving damage to vehicle" charge. The misdemeanor case was dismissed in July 2024 after he completed probation, meaning he had no felony conviction on his record when he allegedly opened fire outside the Austin bar, killing three people and wounding 14 more. Law enforcement sources also told Fox News that Diagne, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal, wore a sweatshirt reading "Property of Allah" over a shirt with an Iranian flag and had a Quran in his car, while the FBI says it is still investigating motive and treating the incident as a possible terror attack. The revelations feed growing debate over how often serious charges are pled down or wiped clean, and whether gaps in prior-case handling can leave potentially dangerous offenders free before high‑profile attacks.