We are continuing to follow
developments after Sunday's shooting
at Buford's that killed three
people.
We're gonna hear the latest update
from the Austin Police Department.
They just held a press conference
that wrapped up in the last hour.
We have an update on the number of
people shot and the victims still in
the hospital.
There was a vigil last night on the
University of Texas campus to honor
the victims.
At least two are confirmed to be UT
students.
We'll have more about those stories
coming up on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
Also coming up today on the
show, imagine your local box
store parking lot as its own
thriving ecosystem.
And now think about how that might
be conveyed as an art installation
and cardboard.
Those stories and a whole lot more
up next right here on
Austin Signal.
This is Austin Signal.
Thank you for tuning in.
It's the fifth day of March.
We're glad you're making us part of
your Thursday.
We are continuing to follow
developments after Sunday's shooting
at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden
that killed three people and has
left others wounded and in critical
condition.
The Austin Police Department today
held their first press conference
since Monday. We're getting things
set up here to bring you the latest
updates from local officials.
Right now, we're going to bring in
Acacia Coronado from the Austin
Current, a reporting partner.
With KUT News and Austin Signal
covering the city of Austin, Acacia,
thank you for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So you and fellow reporter Andrea
Ball have a story out this week
about the uptick of anti-Muslim
rhetoric coming from state
leadership prior to
and after Sunday's shooting at
Buford's and how that kind of
information has been compounded by
the alleged gunman possibly
being Muslim.
What kind of rhetoric or actions
have we heard from state leaders,
let's say like over the past six
months?
Yeah. So this really comes
at a time in which rhetoric
has been very tense.
In November, Governor Greg Abbott
designated the Muslim Brotherhood
and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, foreign terrorist
organizations, which banned them
from purchasing or requiring
land in Texas.
And then last month, Attorney
General Ken Paxton sued to
try to shut down care, and
then this also comes just a
few weeks after.
Some democratic lawmakers signed a
letter saying that schools
with ties to the
Muslim religion had been banned
from participating in the
state's school voucher
program.
Going back to Sunday's shooting at
Buford, law enforcement officials
have been hesitant to
declare a definitive motive in the
shooting, but they did say it could
be terrorism related.
What evidence have they been
pointing to?
So, so far, the evidence
that we are aware of that they are
pointing to are images of
the suspect wearing
a shirt that said a property of a
law, as well as allegedly
wearing a shirt with
an Iranian flag design.
And so those are, as far as we
know, the indicators.
And this did come the
day after the United States
bombed Iran.
And as I said, we're expecting an
update from Austin, the Austin
Police Department. That'll be coming
up shortly here on Austin
Signal.
Let's talk about the local community
and the reaction to it in
the wake of Sunday's shooting.
Local leaders are frankly concerned
about Austin's Muslim community.
Let's start with council member Zoh
Khadri.
The shooting happened in the
district that he represents.
You talked to him, what did he tell
y'all?
He told us that he's hearing that
the community is concerned and
he is concerned, he's concerned
for the safety of all of the
Austin community, but he's also
concerned for the safety of the
Muslim members of the
Austin community because he's
hearing concern from them about
their houses of worship and their
prayer times and whether a bad
actor could come in towards
them, come in and commit
crimes towards them.
Well, speaking of religious
houses of worship here in the Austin
area, you also spoke with a
religious leader from the community.
Who did you speak with?
Yeah, so I spoke with
an imam from an area mosque
who mentioned that the
community is just as heartened
to hear members of
their own neighborhoods, of their
schools, of their workplaces
kind of continuing to
speak with such negative rhetoric
about the Muslim community.
And at the same time, they have
concern about their safety, they
have fears.
They are continuing their usual
safety protocol, which includes
having volunteers
for safety outside of
their place of worship during their
prayer hours.
We have been speaking with Acacia
Coronado.
She is the education reporter for
Austin Current.
They are KUT's reporting partner in
coverage of Austin.
Thank you for joining us, Acacia.
Thank you for having me.
OK, we mentioned that update from
the Austin Police Department.
We are now joined by KUT's
government accountability reporter
Andrew Weber.
He was at that press conference.
Andrew, thanks for making it to the
studio. Yeah. Thanks for having me,
Jerry. So tell us, what kind
of updates did we hear today from
Austin Police?
A lot of updates on
the suspected shooter, but we did
get a sense of the timeframe
here.
Chief Lisa Davis came out and played
two 911 calls from
the area just after the shooting
began, and she also
played a lot video footage,
specifically two officer
body worn cameras,
and a halo camera, which is just
sort of one of those cameras that's
mounted and has sort of a bird's eye
view of the area, and then another
one from a vehicle that was nearby.
Okay, what did we-
We found out that there was a
small history between the suspect
and APD.
What were the details there?
Yeah, they said that he largely
wasn't on their radar,
but as Sam Stark reported
for the Austin Current, there have
been allegations of domestic
violence in San Antonio.
And they did mention a wellness
check.
That was through, the chief
said, through New York where he used
to live. He used to in the Bronx.
Okay, we also got
an update as far as the the
numbers of victims who were impacted
by the shooting.
What was that update 19 people?
In total were hit by gunfire.
Okay, and what was the number
originally? It was originally 14.
14 people hospitalized was the
initial number that they put out.
They also revised the number of
folks in critical care.
Initially it was two after Jorge
Peterson's death,
or rather it was originally three,
then Jorge Peterson passed away and
now it's two people and one of those
people is in critical condition.
Okay yeah, this was like a mix
of body cam footage, some radio
calls, 9-1-1 calls, and
the updates that you just
provided for us.
Was there anything else that stood
out to you in this update?
Speaking to Acasio's story,
your conversation with her just now,
APD did address, they
didn't, rather I should say, they
did not address the motive.
FBI is leading this investigation.
They did, in some of the footage,
we did see the shirt that a lot of
folks, I imagine, have probably seen
online on confirmed
reports initially.
We saw the
suspect wearing a shirt that said
property of Allah and
committing a shooting seemingly.
I think APD has
been very, very tight-lipped about
motive because the investigation
is still ongoing.
And I think that to an extent, not
to carry water for them, they're
having a measure of
sensitivity toward that because
APD initially didn't
comment, then Monday, Chief Davis
said that Diaghne was wearing
a shirt that featured Islamic,
excuse me, Iranian.
I should say, symbolism on
his undershirt under that property
of a law shirt, but didn't really go
off any more on that.
I think, you know, that's, we're
going to have to wait for that until
the FBI comes out with a final
update on the investigation.
Okay, well, we will continue
following that. Thank you for being
at that press conference, and thank
you for making it to Austin Signal
today. That is KUT's government
accountability reporter, Andrew
Weber. Thank you, Jerry.
And last night there was a vigil for
the victims here on the UT campus
held by the Student Government
Association.
KUT's Lee Walden was there and she
is with us in the studio now.
Lee, thanks for being here.
Yeah, thanks for having me.
So tell us a little bit about this
vigil. How many people were out
there last night? What was it like?
Yeah, it's hard to estimate how many
folks exactly were there, but it was
hundreds.
It was a pretty packed crowd of
folks who showed up to
come together and mourn together,
grieve together,
being, leaning on one another and
joining in company to remember the
folks who were victims of the
shooting.
And we know that at least a couple
of the victims were
Longhorns here on the UT campus,
and obviously the ages of
a couple of these victims are the
ages of a lot of these students who
are around us here every single day.
You spoke with a student who was out
at the Vigil last night Jasmine
stores. Tell me about her and what
she had to say to you.
Yeah, Jasmine was telling me about
how her perception of Austin has
kind of changed.
She was telling about how
safe she feels living here
now and it goes beyond
just this issue, but she
was telling that, you know, she
doesn't really have a strong grasp
of what it would take for her to
feel safer living here in
the moment.
But she was glad to have this space
to be in community with other
Longhorns.
She came alone, but she felt like
she was part of something
in this kind of community grieving
that happened last night.
I know a lot of students come here,
you know, with
dreams and goals and pursuits
and I know the people who passed
away had those and
just like that their lives are taken
in an instant and so I
think it's very important to
just have that understanding that
life is very precious.
It's not to be taken for granted and
to just hold those that
we still have today very close
to us because we never know what
could happen.
Yeah, very powerful words there for
a very tragic time.
I can hear it in her voice, I can
here it in your voice as well.
What else were the messages and the
feelings that you were hearing out
there?
Yeah, we also heard from, this event
was by the UT student government.
So we also hear from folks from
the student government, Hudson
Thomas is the student body to
president. And he gave comment
about how this isn't just a
loss that's felt on
an individual basis, it's felt by
the whole community. And they're
grieving as a collective campus
in an absence of
any of these students and a hurt
from any of the students is felt by
everyone across campus.
I also spoke to some first
years on campus.
They were telling me about how
it's kind of slow coming just
to come to terms and reflect over
how they're feeling.
They're scared and anxious and
really upset.
And I think anger is a big part of
this too. They're telling me how
they wish part
of it kind of instigates change
in a lot of different directions,
whether that's better mental health
care resources for folks need.
All the way to better
control of guns,
and sitting with tragedy, not
becoming insensitized to it,
and knowing that even though
these sorts of events seem to happen
a lot for folks these
days, and that they're constantly
hearing about it and feel
inundated with these kinds of news,
that it doesn't just kind of wash
over them, that people sit with it.
It unfortunately feels like these
events happen more often, and
sometimes it does feel even being in
the news industry that you do get
desensitized, and then unfortunately
something that's kind of
reinforced in your backyard and
you're forced to grasp with that,
or deal with that.
Has the university been making
resources available to the students?
I know the city of Austin had a
resource center that popped up
earlier in the week.
What has UT been doing?
Yeah, UT has been definitely
trying. I mean, this event itself
is kind of the resource.
But no, there were people going
around the crowd from different
offices all over campus, offering
resources, tissues, and comfort.
And they were making known
throughout the entire event that
there are resources available on
campus and for any students or
community members that are
struggling to reach out and
use some of the help that they are
offering.
Okay, we have been speaking with
KUT's Lee Walden.
She was out at the vigil last night
and did this reporting, along
with Kut's Greta
Diaz-Gonzalez-Vasquez.
We're gonna have a link to their
story in our show notes today
and in the podcast show
notes, excuse me, over at kut.org
slash Signal.
Lee, thanks for being here and I
hope you take care of yourself in
the coming days. Thank you.
This is Austin Signal.
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
Award-winning artist Robin Frohart
is returning to Austin with a new
show that reimagines the
parking lot as a complex ecosystem.
It combines a hand-built set with
puppetry and cinematic projections.
Maya Fawaz stopped by the McCullough
Theater during rehearsals and
brings us this story.
Robin Frohart says her show,
Shopping Center of the Universe,
started with a parking lot.
It kind of sounds like this.
It's right outside my window, so
it's something that I can't help but
notice.
She's been living across the street
from a Home Depot in Brooklyn for
17 years.
A lot of trucks backing up.
And carts and
yeah and people hollering there's
so much traffic a
truly epic Academy Award-winning
honking that like happens there on
a daily basis
So to summarize her show,
I guess the most important thing to
know is that I've recreated the
entire neighborhood in cardboard.
Throwheart is a multidisciplinary
artist and puppeteer.
In the show, she's created sets
of buildings and cars and
animals.
Every part of it has been a
challenge.
It's a crazy idea and
she brings it all to life with the
help of multiple cameras, sound
design, music, and staging.
Sometimes you're watching the
screen, and sometimes you're
watching me, and sometimes you are
watching the puppeteers.
So the audience gets a
totally different experience,
depending on what they're paying attention
to.
I think there's stuff that you'll,
like, oh, I was watching the screen
and I didn't even see how they were
doing it.
And again, everything
is made entirely out
of cardboard.
It's kind of funny to me, too, the
contrast of all this, like,
high-tech camera computer
system projectors and
then just cardboard.
Frohart has been rehearsing with her
team all week before the show
opens tomorrow.
We want to be above, we want to like
be at the pallets, right?
Yeah, you want to make sure you
don't cover it.
Hi, I'm Admiral Gray and
I'm an artist helping to
develop Shopping Center of the Year.
By Robin Frohart.
Gray has been fixing props and
backdrops and figuring out
how to adapt all these moving pieces
to the McCullough Theater.
Am attaching a
tiny invisible string to
a piece of cardboard for
a little two-dimensional
Canada goose puppet to
look like it's floating on
cardboard water.
Does that make any sense?
Gray shows me another prop.
It's a street sweeper.
Even the little brushes underneath
the truck are made of cardboard.
It zooms in on these.
Brushes, like cleaning.
Brohart sees these at her home depot
in New York.
Call it the parking lot zamboni.
That's what she calls it.
We call them jabroni.
It's worth mentioning that Frohart
collected most of the cardboard from
her home depot and the surrounding
neighborhood.
It's a very self-reflective
show and also doesn't take
itself very seriously, too.
She says parking lots and
big box stores take away
from a city's charm.
Austin, they want to go to the
old part of town where all the
individually run businesses and bars
and restaurants are.
That's the charm of most cities,
it's uniqueness and people really
crave that but then we're like
covering every town and these places
that could be anywhere which
makes them feel like nowhere
and they're just these
vast oceans of beige.
FroHardt shows us how these spaces
have their own sort
of ecosystem.
Even this Home Depot parking lot is
a part of nature.
It's teeming with fauna.
There are day laborers
that are at every entrance.
A couple amazing tamale vendors
nearby.
There are lots of cannibal
collectors with their
carts.
Some people gathering sticks for
their nests, I say, with their
lumber carts.
If you're curious to see all this
with your own eyes, you can get
tickets at the Texas Performing Arts
website.
There's a show Friday night and
another one Saturday afternoon.
Shopping Center of the Universe is
touring across the country.
Frohart says she loved seeing the
audience's reactions at the show in
Massachusetts.
People were like, I've never, I
always felt this, but I didn't know
how to say it. And I was like, well,
I didn't really say it directly.
I like, can't, I can't build
all this stuff.
It's actually incredibly moving.
People cry, but I
hope that they laugh,
like, equally as much, like,
because that's kind of the balance
of hope and despair.
She says, you'll definitely
think about this show the next
time you're in a parking lot.
For KT's Art Beat, I'm Maia Fawaz
in Austin.
All right, a nice little
radio story there here on Austin
Signal. Love to hear that,
especially from a familiar voice,
Maya Fawaz there.
Well, speaking of a familiar name,
now we are joined by KUT art
beat editor, Stephanie Frederico,
back to tell us more about what is
happening in Austin this weekend.
Howdy, Stephanie.
Hi Jerry.
I'm glad you're here with us
because, you know,
this is the weekend before South by
Southwest, which means there are
lots of people heading into town.
People are going to be in cars,
waymos all over the place.
So it's a nice weekend to maybe go
out and enjoy the city so that next
weekend you can play things chill.
What's happening?
What's on your radar this weekend?
Oh my God, there's so many great
things happening this weekend,
including that Robin Frohart show
that Maya just told us about at
the McCullough theater.
I'm super excited about that.
You're going
I am going, I'm very lucky to get,
to have gotten tickets.
Um, a lot of things also on my
radar, like, uh, Austin Creative
Alliance is hosting a new, an
open house at their new space.
Um, tomorrow or sorry,
tomorrow's Friday.
Tomorrow's Friday, so that's how
this event's happening Saturday,
correct? Saturday, yes.
Saturday. Yes, let's get it right.
Um...
Open house on Saturday at their new
space. I did a story back in
November about them moving into
property on this church down
at 11th and Guadalupe.
So the tenants are all moved in,
they've got this new space,
affordable studio space that they're
renting out to artists,
and everybody's all in there now, so
they're having a big open house on
Saturday. There'll be performances,
there'll be art workshops and things
like that, and that sounds like it
should be really cool.
Okay, I want you to tell me about
this show called Clockwork
because clocks are a big
part of my life, you know,
especially on the radio, you have to
follow a clock.
So what's going on there?
That is an artist.
Her name is Sable Elise Smith.
She's from New York and she has an
opening
Tomorrow, okay
She has an open reception for
her exhibit at the Contemporary on
Friday. It's a free
Reception for her for
her Exhibit called clockwork and
it's on view until August 2nd
And the pieces that she created over
the last five years include
sculpture some video neon
and some works on paper It
just looks really cool if you go to
the Contemporary's website and kind
of look at some of her art.
It just, it looks like it could be a
really nice exhibit, so.
Okay cool happening on Saturday
is this a power point night I'm
interested in this because one of
our mutual friends used to do these
like Sunday gatherings at her house
where she would have all these
PowerPoint presentations on various
topics does this this
one that's happening on Saturday
does it have a theme or what kind of
stories are being told there.
Well, the funny thing about that is
our friend who used to have these
symposiums, we used to use...
We used to use symposia.
Yes.
Symposiums, we used to have the
computer and we would do these
PowerPoint presentations, but the
one this weekend at the Museum of
Human Achievement, there's no
computers.
So I think it's just gonna be
really funny and creative.
The woman behind it who's hosting
it, Roxie Castillo,
I just think she's really creative
and hilarious.
And can I read you the description?
Do we have time?
Because I think the description that
they have on website is just...
It's, you know, you'll want to go.
It's bonkers.
The description says, come learn
question mark about how Jim
Henson really died,
food and the ear canal, what
THC drinks have to do with the
scouts, and new takes on
cryptid classics.
Prepare yourself for a sampler
platter of five minute conspiracy
board style presentations
illuminating shocking new
connections we might have seen
sooner if we just opened our minds,
a little man.
Uh, so there's like
five presenters or actually,
I'm not sure how many presenters,
but they get, yeah, they get five
minutes each to just go up and
tell, give their little
presentations. And so that sounds
like it could be fun.
Okay?
Sliding scale on that, it could be
free, it's up to $10, depending
on what you want to pay.
I'd love to hear that.
Okay, well let's wrap up with
something that's happening tomorrow.
This is a screening of some kind.
What's happening there?
Oh, this is at Alienated Majestic,
and it's brought to,
it is a screening of different
literary adaptations from film,
and is hosted by the Bat City Cinema
at the bookstore.
And they'll be showing 16-millimeter
film features of works by like Franz
Kafka, Isaac Asimov,
and Ogden Marsh, and others, and
just sounds like it could be really,
be quite cool.
Okay well lots to check out this
weekend before I let you get out of
here it is membership drive time
and I think like you know we're just
taking a little bit of time to
highlight the work that we have been
doing throughout the year.
What do you what are you most proud
of of the work you've been doing at
the Art Beat? Obviously we're
telling these really cool art
stories and that are really sound
rich right but you're also
presenting community opportunities
that maybe are more accessible than
other things in the art community.
Yeah, we're trying to present a
mix of things that might be
interesting to our
audience, showcase
some local artists,
talk about accessibility and
affordability and.
That's perfect, that is the
kind of storytelling that we are
able to do here because of
listener support and Artbeat is one
of the great things that we have
added this year and we're trying to
add more and more things like the
Austin signal, which you're tuning
into right now.
That is the Artbeat editor,
Stephanie Federico.
Stephanie, thanks for being here
with us.
My pleasure, Jerry.
And thank you out there for spending
your afternoon or your day, whatever
time you're listening.
This is Austin Signal,
and we are KUT News
community-supported public
radio.