Listen
Three people are in custody following a weekend crime spree and manhunt in Austin that made national headlines. Police say the suspects, all juveniles, are tied to multiple shootings and stolen vehicles across the city.
As grocery costs rise, a church near the University of Texas campus gives out hundreds of free burgers weekly to combat food insecurity.
Texas Democrat James Talarico’s taco order is going viral after a stop at Taco Joint. More on the order heard around the country.
Austin FC has fired its sporting director and head coach. The co-host of the Vamos Verde podcast shares what this means for the team.
Austin Signal is made possible by listeners like you. You can support our work by making a donation at supportthispodcast.org
The full transcript of this episode of Austin Signal is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast apps.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:08] People are now in custody following a weekend crime spree in Manhut in Austin that made national headlines. Police say the suspects, all juveniles, are tied to multiple shootings and stolen vehicles across the city. We’ll get the latest updates on this coming up.
KUT Announcer: Laurie Gallardo [00:00:24] The Austin Signal is a production of KUT News, hosted by Miles Bloxen.
Miles Bloxson [00:00:30] Find out why students are lining up on San Antonio Street near UT Austin and know it has nothing to do with school. And Texas Democrat James Telerico’s taco order is going viral after a stop at Taco Joint. Find out the order heard around the country. Plus Austin FC just made a major announcement this morning. We’ll hear more from the co-host of the podcast, Vamos Verde, and what that means for the team that’s coming up right here on Austin Signal. Hey y’all welcome back. This is Austin Signal and I’m your host Myles Bloxson. Today is May 18th, 2026 and you are listening to community powered radio KUT News 90.5. Thank you so much for making us a part of your day. Three people are now in custody following a car chase and manhunt over the weekend in the Austin area. The arrests were made in connection with a shooting spree that began Saturday afternoon and left multiple people injured, including one critically. KUT reporter Luz Moreno-Lazano has been following the developments in this story and she joins me now. Hey Luz. Thanks for having me. Of course. First, can you lay out the timeline of events like when did the first reports of the shootings come in? When was the shelter-in-place order issued and when were the suspects eventually apprehended?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:01:57] Yeah. Okay, so this is taking place over two days. We got some of our we got the first call. This is according to police chief Lisa Davis. She says they got the first call from a person around just before 4pm on Saturday reporting that their vehicle had been stolen from their apartment complex. And she says it was not long after that they had gotten another call about a stolen gun. Okay. And so this was, you know, a couple of not too long apart from each other on Saturday. And then she says that around 20 calls came in throughout the evening into Saturday for shots being fired. And two of those locations included fire stations in like the South Southwest Austin area.
Miles Bloxson [00:02:37] You said 20 calls? That’s a lot of calls. 20 calls, yes.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:02:38] Yes, yes. She did say that there was a lull overnight and then they kind of picked back up again around 9 a.m. Sunday. Police put out basically it was like we’re looking for people in connection with multiple shootings and the first alert from APD came in came around noon yesterday and around 3 30 p.m. Yesterday is when they are issued the first shelter in place order for areas of South Austin and that lasted about an hour before they lifted it and as these guys who were stealing cars and kind of moving around the city moved their way east toward Maynard and I think they were stopped around 6 p.m. Yesterday. They, there was three guys that they believe were involved. They caught the first two guys around six. Um, and then the third person wasn’t found until like nine, almost 10 o’clock last night.
Miles Bloxson [00:03:40] Oh, wow.
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:40] So, yeah, it was a full, you know, more than 24 hours of just craziness and chaos.
Miles Bloxson [00:03:48] I remember my phone going off and not me being not sure about like what it is I’m so used to maybe like an amber alert or something like that just to so to see a shelter in place I was like, well, what is this about? Yeah You know what I mean?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:03:59] Yeah, I think what the concern was that because these guys were one changing cars constantly and they didn’t know the parameters or the idea of like there was three of them, there was two of them there was one of them. What was the motive? They issued an order, the shelter in place order for a precaution. And it was for a really large swath of area. I mean, it was most of South Austin.
Miles Bloxson [00:04:24] What do we know so far about the suspects? And do we like the motive for any of these shootings and what those appear to be?
Luz Moreno-Lozano [00:04:31] Yeah, so our suspects appear to be teenagers. I think they’re the oldest one, potentially the oldest two are 17, and then there’s a 15-year-old. We don’t know a motive. Chief Davis said that we’re hoping to learn that in the next several days as things kind of unfold. Since all three are in custody, I think, they’re hoping to kind of put all of these pieces together. But yeah, there was just three young males. And we’re not sure how or if they’re related, if they have any connection with each other in terms of like family relation and things like that. So yeah, I think we’re gonna learn more about that in the coming days, for sure. And how are the victims? Like what’s their condition right now? Yeah, we had, so four people were injured. One of them. It did sustain serious injuries, but I believe Chief Davis told us last night that person is expected to be okay. The other three sustained minor injuries and I think all of them, she said, were taken to local hospitals and are expected to recover. But I think we’re gonna learn more about that in the coming days as well. She gave kind of preliminary information from what she had yesterday. I think it was still kind of all happening. And at that point we only had two suspects and not the third. Well, that’s good news that everybody’s okay. I think so, yeah. I think. Chief Davis is hoping to, yeah, kind of get to the bottom of this, you know, what kind of motive or what is driving these young men to just drive around the city, shooting people randomly didn’t appear that there was any kind of pattern to it, it did appear random. So yeah, I think she she is hoping to kind of get to the bottom of this in the next several days. We’ve been speaking with Katie’s loose Moreno
Miles Bloxson [00:06:11] Thank you so much, Luz, for the update. Thanks, Miles.
Sarah Asch [00:06:18] .
Miles Bloxson [00:06:21] On any Tuesday evening during the school year, you’ll find an ever-growing line of students on the sidewalk of San Antonio Street near UT Austin. They’ve come from different commitments like class, work, student meetings, but as the Texas Standards’ Reedy Bora reports, they’re all there for one reason, a dang good burger.
Riddhi Bora [00:06:42] The Freeburgers are served outside Lumen Austin, a Lutheran campus ministry located in the heavily UT Austin student populated neighborhood of West Campus.
Lumen Austin [00:06:52] It’s free dinner on Tuesdays, which is really awesome. Yeah, it’s free. I like free food.
Riddhi Bora [00:06:57] Before COVID-19, Lumen student members would share a meal together every Tuesday. Once the pandemic began and social distancing became a requirement, the church decided to offer a curbside meal option, and they opened it up to students outside of the ministry. Slowly, the free burgers grew in popularity. Students have nicknamed them Churgers for church and burgers. Now, about 400 students show up weekly for what is now known as Tailgate Tuesdays.
Lumen Austin [00:07:24] Tillgate Tuesday is kind of what makes us known throughout West Campus.
Riddhi Bora [00:07:29] Michael Kell is a senior nutrition major. He found a home at the church starting in his freshman year and is now a Lumen student intern in charge of supplying tailgate Tuesdays.
Lumen Austin [00:07:39] Now, when I tell people about Lumen, they’re like, oh, what’s that? And kind of the first thing I say is, oh, we’re the guys who do the burgers. Every Tuesday, they are like, oh yeah, I know. And I think that’s really cool that the main thing we’re known for is feeding people and fostering community.
Lumen Austin [00:07:56] People are in line for a good amount of time, and they’re always just talking with each other. People are meeting each other, I’ve heard stories where people have met their roommates in the line, so I think that’s really cool.
Riddhi Bora [00:08:07] Providing 400 students with a free meal weekly is no easy feat, financially or logistically. Donors and alumni support the cost of serving the burgers along with Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Lumens Building Developer. Prepping ingredients begins hours before the line starts to form at 5pm, and volunteers grill burgers and form an assembly line to hand out pickles, cheese, and tomatoes. Sometimes those in line to eat also lend a hand.
Lumen Austin [00:08:36] I think that’s truly something that like encapsulates kind of what our campus is and kind of the student base we have that anyone is willing to help out.
Riddhi Bora [00:08:46] A 2022 survey by the Food and Security Action Team found about one in three UT students experience food insecurity. One student told me she’s been coming once a week all semester.
Student [00:08:57] I started at the beginning of this like spring semester, but I would have started earlier if I knew about them earlier. I definitely think groceries have been getting more expensive and eating out is even more expensive so it’s just like extra, especially for students who are not like working or don’t have extra money.
Riddhi Bora [00:09:14] Vivian Zang is a UT junior and has been volunteering for Tailgate Tuesdays since her freshman year.
Vivian Zang [00:09:19] Burgers aren’t the healthiest thing in the world, but it fills you up and the burgers are really good, better than anything I could make. She said one barrier for students to getting food for meals is distance. So they don’t have a car, you know, the nearest grocery store is either HEB, which you need to have the bus or the car and Target, which is, you know, pretty far from somebody if they’re living on 29th, 28th street. So I would say distance and then also time. You’re spending all your time focusing on school, you’re- trying to study for tests. You don’t necessarily have the time to make this huge trip for groceries that it’s gonna last you what, like three days? And then also some people are just working to afford rent. So I have friends who work like 25 hours a week on top of being a full-time student and there’s just no time.
Riddhi Bora [00:10:07] Lumens’ pastor Brad first says students have told him that the burgers were the one hot meal they eat weekly, but despite being church affiliated, he says there’s no preaching or attempt at conversion at Tailgate Tuesdays.
Brad [00:10:18] We know it as the bait and switch, right? And this happens so all too often on when it comes to campus ministries. You’ll have a campus minister say, hey, yeah, come, we’re gonna have these, we’re going to have pizza, all right? And you’re like, yeah. I could go for some pizza. And you get in there and what it turns, it’s the bait. And then here’s the switch. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Riddhi Bora [00:10:43] First says he doesn’t think it’s the church’s job to convert people.
Brad [00:10:47] Someone finds something really compelling about our faith and God is God, then God’s going to get that person. Our only work is to really show how compelling that is by our actions.
Riddhi Bora [00:10:59] First said he thinks right now is probably the hardest time to be a college student since the Vietnam War because we’re at war again and because of the fear created by the immigration crackdown. He also said students are facing all of the normal challenges.
Brad [00:11:13] I guess the thing that I give thanks to God for often is that we get to put a smile on the faces of college students in the midst of all of that. And that, that makes my heart sing. Um, and it’s not only me, but it’s the people both behind the line. And it’s the people in the world that get to feel that joy.
Riddhi Bora [00:11:53] Looking down the line on San Antonio Street, it’s clear that Tailgate Tuesdays is in fact putting a smile on students’ faces and for a moment is making being a college student a little less difficult, even if it is just for a Tuesday evening.
Miles Bloxson [00:12:20] That was Texas Standard’s Reedy Borah reporting, and we’ve got a break coming up here on Austin Signal. But before we get in, go in. Last Friday, we had a one-hour immigration special that if you haven’t heard it, you gotta give it a listen. You can find it at KET.org slash Signal. Jerry Keano spoke with immigration reporters, experts, and we heard from voices of the most impacted. We’ll be back right here on the Austin Signal Austin FC made a major announcement this morning. They are parting ways with head coach and sporting director to help us break this down and what this means for the team, the culture around the club, and where Austin FC goes from here. We’re joined now by Jimmy Moss, who is the co-host of Vamos Verde. Jimmy, great to have you.
Jimmy Maas [00:13:15] Thanks for having me. Yeah, it’s a I don’t know if it was a surprise to I’m sure some of the fan base was a little upset over the last few months of play. But I think part of the announcements, the departure of sporting director Rodolfo Borel, who essentially is like the general manager of the team. That is that sends a message that they’re just going to head in a completely different direction. Nico Esteves is also leaving. After a season and a half. The timing of this is actually pretty important because there’s one game left in the first half of the season and then the team will take a 60 day break, two months off for the World Cup, where they will not have league, I mean, they will obviously be working out and stuff, but they will have a league games during that time. So this comes at this point where they can. Think about making a change and they have enlisted a firm, a search firm to look for a new sporting director. I think that change will be first in the interim. Davey Arno, who has been a long time assistant coach at Austin FC, will be in charge of the team on the field and unless there is a new manager named by that July 22nd reboot of the season, he will probably be in charged until at least that point, if not farther. Davey Arno actually is one of, he’s the only member of the coaching staff ever, who is from Texas. So, you know, there’s some, there’s something to root for there if you’re into some homegrown love.
Miles Bloxson [00:14:48] And for those who have not been following this season, how have they been doing as a team? Because I’ve been hearing, you know, mixed reviews that it hasn’t been going so great this season. So.
Jimmy Maas [00:14:55] So they have had a long, uh, long, there was a lot of tying, a lot of draws, um, lot, roughly speaking, they’ve, they played 14 matches. They’re three, five, and six as three wins, five draws, six losses. The last loss, the one on Saturday was against a particularly bad sporting Kansas city team, which may, you know, straw breaking the camel’s back may have forced the issue with ownership on this move. And so therefore they decided to part ways with a project, essentially, that they’ve been getting players and signing. You know, this is kind of, you’re all building together, right? The process is the GM gets players to buy into it, a coach to buy in to it, and basically what they’re saying is, this project isn’t working, and we’re gonna start fresh come July.
Miles Bloxson [00:15:43] Yeah, because the I was actually at the game this past Saturday. So the team that they that you were mentioning that they played, they were probably on the lower end. They were. Yes.
Jimmy Maas [00:15:50] Yes. And now Austin is inch closer to that load being tied with them. So currently they are 13th in the Western Conference. There are only two places below them. They’re they’re still there. The playoffs are within reach. So if they made a major move, there was room for upside for this team. They had better players returning from injuries. And those that that was only starting Brandon Vasquez, Danny Padera. They also had Owen Wolf coming back from major injuries. And then you have you know, this this break that could have provided a spark for something. So they will have to put it together on the field and make because in the end, it was the disappointment on the field that led to the departures of both Borel and Nico Estevez.
Miles Bloxson [00:16:34] And I have to say, the fan base looked pretty solid, like people were excited to be at the game. So what does this mean for our fans?
Jimmy Maas [00:16:41] Well, you know, there’s hope springs eternal, right? So whenever there’s a change, you no longer have to hope that the same old same old is going to work and maybe something new can turn something new, can turn out into something better for the team. Last season was a pretty good run for them. I mean, they did make the playoffs unexpectedly, and they also made it all the way the US Open Cup final. But this season, not enough. And so management made a change.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:10] We’ve been speaking with Jimmy Maas, co-host of the Vamos Verde podcast. Jimmy, thanks so much for talking with us.
Jimmy Maas [00:17:14] No, thank you for having me.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:24] Was the taco order heard around the country. James Tellerico, last Thursday, ordered potato, egg and cheese tacos from Taco Joint just north of UT campus. He was accompanied by former President Obama and other Texas Democrats. But Tellerica’s order became a political hot topic. For more, we’re talking with Tacos of Texas host and taco journalist, Mondo Rayo. Mondo, thank you so much for talking with us on Austin Signal.
Mando Rayo [00:17:53] Hey, happy to be back, you know, you can always count on me to talk tacos.
Miles Bloxson [00:17:57] I love tacos, by the way. It’s like one of my favorite things to eat. So can you set this up for the people who are just hearing about this for the first time?
Mando Rayo [00:18:05] Yeah, yeah, for sure. So, last week, Taylor Rico, Gina Hinojosa, and Obama, former President Obama, came to Austin and they went down the street to Taco Join. And, you know, it was obviously one of those political kind of get-together whatnot with a few people that are invited, and few people were like notified, right? But then the big thing happened was When somebody recorded what Telerico’s order was, then all hell broke loose.
Miles Bloxson [00:18:41] This makes me sad for a couple of reasons because I go to Taco Joint all the time. So why do you think Telerico’s order was such like a big deal?
Mando Rayo [00:18:50] Uh, okay. So he ordered potato, egg and cheese. And you know, if you’re from this area, if you’re even from Texas, you know that’s a staple, you know. It is. It is, right? But I think what happens with politics being politics, especially outside of Texas and maybe more in the governor’s mansion, they were like, oh, well, he’s not ordering with meat. He’s not a real, true taco eater. And I’m like, nah, come on now. Ha ha ha ha!
Miles Bloxson [00:19:16] Yeah, that’s a lot because some people were calling these like vegan tacos, but they’re really not
Mando Rayo [00:19:22] They’re not. No, they have cheese. They have egg. You know, they’re just, you know, the thing is, is, uh, they will make everything a hot topic, you know? And so I think, you know, what they were trying to do is like say, all right, you know, he didn’t eat, he, he did not order with me, like with bacon or chorizo or whatever. So that means he’s not a true Texan or whatnot. Oh my God. Yeah.
Miles Bloxson [00:19:45] They’re gonna have to judge me because my order is like potato you know i like eggs with it and avocado and green salsa so like i guess i’m not a true texan but i was born here
Mando Rayo [00:19:55] You know, here’s the thing, the potato, egg, and cheese is a staple, you know? It’s like what grandma’s made, it’s what, you know, your mom made. It’s hearty and it’s just delicious, especially on a flour tortilla.
Miles Bloxson [00:20:09] Yeah, come on now done. What are we talking about? Who would have thought that tacos and politics could intersect like this? But is there a taco order that you would say aligns with each political party? So that we can have a little bit of fun with this like what’s a taco order for a candidate running as a democrat?
Mando Rayo [00:20:26] Okay. Okay. Well, you know, we got a lot of options, right? But I think, you know, I would go with a good migas taco for a Democrat on corn, not on flour on corn, because you know some of those Democrats, they they they’re like gluten free and all that.
Miles Bloxson [00:20:46] That’s hilarious.
Mando Rayo [00:20:48] But you got but it’s a very traditional taco too and it’s you know you know it’s like the migas is very i think iconic to austin and uh and uh you know has serranos or jalapenos onions and and tomatoes and some cheese so it’s good it’s
Miles Bloxson [00:21:04] Spicy serrano. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What about as a Republican, what would I order?
Mando Rayo [00:21:08] Oh, that’s easy, man. They’re just going to the chain and ordering a ground beef taco and a crispy taco, you know, you know, that that’s like the closest to the culture they’re gonna get. No, no, I would say like, you know, if anything, they won’t even call it a taco, they’ll call it a wrap.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:29] Oh my goodness, I am so done with you right now. Okay, what about as an independent? Okay.
Mando Rayo [00:21:34] Independent is like an independence like, you know, has that bravado, the Texas culture, I would say. And I think I’m going to go with a barbacoa, you know, cause it’s very traditional, but also they can have it in their own way, maybe with corn and flour. And so, and it’s hearty. And so yeah, I think with an independent, it’s kind of that independent lifestyle. And it’s like rugged. And I’m gonna go with the barbocoa.
Miles Bloxson [00:21:59] Now I’m hungry, Mondo. We’ve been speaking with Mondo Ryo, host of Tacos of Texas podcast. Mondo, thanks so much for talking with us.
Mando Rayo [00:22:06] Thanks, and I brought some tacos for you, so let’s dig in after the show.
Miles Bloxson [00:22:10] Okay, let’s do it. That’s it for us today on Austin Signal. Rene Chavez is our technical director. Kristen Cabrera is our managing producer. Alexander Hart is our producer. We’ve got more about the show in our podcast show notes at KUT.org. I’m your host Miles Bloxson in for my buddy Jerry Quijano. Make sure you join us tomorrow for Austin Signal and don’t eat too many tacos like I did today.
This transcript was transcribed by AI, and lightly edited by a human. Accuracy may vary. This text may be revised in the future.
