We are learning more about the
alleged shooter and Sunday morning's
deadly incident at a West 6th Street
bar.
The suspect had no prior
interactions with police here in
Austin, but that wasn't true for
other agencies in Texas.
What we know about that history and
why it wasn't enough to keep him
from legally acquiring firearms.
And the Texas Department of
Transportation has not started
construction on a new boardwalk
along Lady Bird Lake.
TechStop pledged $25 million for the
project as part of the expansion of
I-35.
Now it's warning the city to accept
its terms or lose the project
altogether.
More from a KUT news investigation
that's on today's show.
The Austin Signal is a production
of KUT News, hosted by
Jerry Quijano.
And on this Friday, we've got a
little Austin music history for you,
those stories and more,
coming up next, it's right here on
Austin Signal.
Howdy out there, you are tuned in to
Austin Signal right here on
community-supported public radio.
This is KUT News.
I'm your host, Jerry Kikano.
It is the first Friday of March
2026.
We're glad you're spending part of
the day here with us.
We are continuing to report on
and follow developments in the
investigation and aftermath of
Sunday morning's deadly shooting at
Buford's backyard beer garden on
West 6th Street.
Austin police chief Lisa Davis said
on Thursday that the total number of
people hit by gunfire, including
the suspect, was now at 19.
That was an increase from previous
statements.
Three people were killed and one
remains in critical condition.
And while Austin police report not
having a run-in with the suspect
before last weekend's shooting,
we are learning more about
interactions with other law
enforcement agencies prior to
Sunday. For more, we're speaking
with Sam Stark, the local government
reporter for Austin Current.
KUT's collaborator on Austin Signal
and a partner with KUT Newsroom
covering the city and this deadly
shooting. Welcome to the show, Sam.
Thanks so much for having me.
So in your story, you found that
court records from Bexar County
showed a possible history of
domestic violence from the
alleged shooter. Can you tell us
more about that?
Yeah, so we recently
acquired divorce documents
from Bexar County.
That's where Ndiaga
Diyajni lived with his ex-wife.
So we know that his ex wife
Isatao Sivare
filed for divorce from
Diyaja in March
2022.
In September of that year,
a judge found that Diyaji had
a quote history or pattern
of committing family violence during
their marriage.
The ruling in those documents placed
Saveri in sole custody of
their two sons, which signaled the
court's concern about safety
while still permitting Diogenes'
limited and supervised visitation.
One thing I wanted to ask you about
was Austin Police said pretty early
that the guns used in the
attack were acquired legally.
Did any of these crimes
bar him from owning guns?
Yeah, so Austin Police said that he
acquired them legally in
San Antonio in 2017.
So I actually spoke with Hays
County Assistant District Attorney
Greg Cox about this
situation.
He said that because Diogeni had no
criminal conviction for family
violence, he was still legally
allowed to own firearms.
So, if he did have a
criminal conviction, state law
bars people convicted of family
violence misdemeanors or felonies
from possessing guns for
five years after completion of their
sentence and probation.
Cox told me that civil courts don't
usually trigger those
firearm restrictions.
There is one exception.
A person may also be barred from
possess firearms if a court
issues a domestic violence
protective order against them.
Even without a criminal conviction.
Okay, we have your story at KUT.org
and we'll have a link in today's
show notes.
In addition to you reporting, you
also include a handwritten note
that you found in
the records. What does it say in
there?
So also in those documents was a
handwritten letter from D'Ajni
replying to the divorce filings,
refuting some of Savare's claims.
He said, quote, in our culture and
religion, we do not need a marriage
certificate to be husband and
wife.
The only reason why we are
here is because I applied for a
marriage certificate to help her
become a legal resident of the
United States and later become
a citizen.
I only object to her lying
reason for divorce, otherwise I
have no problem whatsoever having
her out of my life.
You also talked with someone who
assists victims of domestic
violence.
What did she have to say about the
connections between domestic
violence and these kinds of
shootings?
So she said that they are
never surprised when someone who
has committed this type of shooting
has a history of family
violence.
She pointed to a study that
reported an established link
between mass shooters and
perpetrators of family violence.
That was a study out of Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health, which found that
almost 70% of mass shootings
in the United States from 2014 to
2019.
Involved a person who had either
killed a family member or had
a history of domestic violence.
Sam, we here at
KUT have been covering the story as
you have with Austin Current.
There's a lot to be updated.
We had an update yesterday from
Austin Police Department and we're
expecting more in the future.
What are you going to be continuing
to cover in the days and weeks
ahead?
Yeah, so I mean, we're just really
interested in getting kind of a more
complete picture of who this
person was.
The Austin Police Department as well
as FBI investigators have been...
Dropping hints here and there,
for example, on Thursday, we
had heard that he had a welfare
check in 2022.
They said that that came from an
outside agency, but wouldn't specify
which one.
I'm going to just continue to
look at the response from local
agencies as well as federal ones to
see what they're doing in the wake
of this tragedy.
That is Sam Stark.
He is the local government reporter
at Austin Current, a partner
with KUT News and Austin Signal
in covering the city of Austin.
Sam, thanks for your time.
Thanks so much.
Back in 2023,
Textod said it would pay up to $25
million to build a new boardwalk
along Lady Bird Lake.
And the offer seemed kind of
simple, a long-desired safety
upgrade on Austin's busiest trail
paid for by the state as part
of the I-35 expansion.
But nearly three years since then,
construction on this new board walk
hasn't even started and now
Textod is warning the city of Austin
that it must accept the terms of an
agreement or risk losing the
boardwalk all together.
So what's going on here?
A KUT news investigation helps
provide some answers as
KUT's Nathan Bernier reports.
Austin has more than a hundred miles
of trails, but the most popular one
by far is the ten-mile
loop around Lady Bird Lake in
the middle of the city.
The Anne and Roy Butler hike and
bike trail attracts five million
visits a year.
And one of the most beloved features
is the existing mile-long
boardwalk that opened 2020
My name is Al
Godfrey, I'm an architect
and I was
the lead designer for the boardwalk.
And right now we're walking along
the board walk on a beautiful,
beautiful Monday observing
the city skyline and
it is spectacular.
The boardwalk cost $28
million to build, mostly paid for
with City of Austin property taxes.
It seems like it really
resonates with the community and
has become an important
milestone, a
benchmark for the city in terms of
its idea of itself.
Now Austin could get a
second boardwalk on the Butler Trail
and in a much more central location
Right in front of the Hyatt
Regency on the south shore
of Lady Bird Lake That's basically
between South First Street and
South Congress Avenue But
this time instead of the city
footing most of the bill up to
25 million dollars would come from
the Texas Department of
Transportation And it's all
because of the expansion of I-35
through Central Austin
Adding extra lanes to the highway
means the I-35 bridge over Lady
Bird Lake needs to get wider and
that construction is already
underway.
But doing that requires using some
of the surrounding parkland, some
of it during construction, but also
almost an acre that will be
permanently absorbed into the
highway's footprint.
Now under federal law, TxDOT has to
make up for that use of parkland
with something called mitigation.
Sometimes that's a straight cash
payout. Last month the city accepted
more than 17 million dollars from
TxTOT.
The boardwalk, though, falls into
a different category of mitigation.
It is not strictly required by
law.
It's text out going above
and beyond.
This is a kind of sweetener that
often gets bundled into large urban
highway expansions to help agencies
build support for controversial
projects.
So almost three years after this
project was announced, why is
there not even a timeline for when
construction could begin?
A KUT news review of thousands
of pages of emails obtained out of
the Texas Public Information Act
helps reveal why.
Behind the scenes, a power struggle
played out over who would control
the boardwalk and who would get the
25 million dollars.
It involved the city of Austin and a
non-profit called the Trail
Conservancy, which operates and
maintains the Butler Trail under a
contract with the city.
And it didn't really go as planned,
but it did eat up a lot of
time.
And it started with an
email.
It was March 2023.
The email was from a member of the
Trail Conservancy's Board of
Directors, Matt Harris.
He's also on Cap Metro's board.
Harris had just seen a KUT news
story about TechStot using Parkland
to build the I-35 bridge over Lady
Bird Lake.
He emailed the lead engineer for
TechStots Austin District, Tucker
Ferguson, and wrote,
Tucker, can we visit regarding this
when you have a moment?
I have a couple ideas that will get
TechStat the space it needs and yet
preserve the trail long-term.
Within days, TxDOT officials
were meeting with the Trail
Conservancy's leadership.
By the summer, the boardwalk was
listed in the final environmental
study for the I-35 expansion,
but what was not public was how
the $25 million would move.
For months, TXDOT and the Trail
conservancy tried to figure out
how to route the money directly to
the Trail Conservancy, bypassing
the city, which owns most of the
trail, and the underwater land
where the boardwalk would be
constructed.
The problem with this arrangement
was that it violated state rules.
Inside TexDOT's statewide
headquarters, contract lawyers
started raising red flags.
And then in January, 2024,
the attorney overseeing TexDot's
contract division, Ken Stewart
wrote, we need to involve
a local government.
We cannot just pick the nonprofit
because we do not have the authority
to just go pick firms to do business
with.
That ended the plan for a direct
payment to the Trail Conservancy.
But it did not end the effort to
route the money outside the parks
department or to avoid direct
oversight by the city council.
So today is July
1st, 2024.
We are in the PDC.
It is 3.09 and I'm calling together
the meeting of the
Austin Public Facility.
The Austin Public Facilities
Corporation is not exactly well
known.
City Council created it in 2003
because it has the power to buy,
sell, and renovate city property
with more flexibility than a
typical city department.
I am Manny Thomas.
I am the Chief Marketing Officer for
the Trout Conservancy.
And I'm here to talk to you a little
bit about our Ford Walk
Central project.
Under the new plan to route the $25
million to the Trail Conservancy,
TxDOT would give the money to the
Austin Public Facilities
Corporation, which would then hand
it over to the trail conservancy.
Emails showed trail conservacy
leadership telling TxdOT that if the
money went through the city and
required a city council vote, the
boardwalk project would no longer be
feasible.
So in the summer of 2024, the
trail Conservancy also known as TTC
made a similar case to
the austin public facilities
corporations board of vectors.
It would not be feasible as a City
of Austin project.
TxDOT's budget for this project is
based on TTC being the project
manager and it has a strong cap at
25 million.
A member of the corporation's board,
who did not identify themselves in
the city's audio archive of the
meeting, explained that what the
trail conservancy was seeking was
not a normal arrangement.
So my understanding, we would simply
serve as a pass-through,
just through the PFC's existence.
It gives us that mechanism to allow
that to happen, as opposed to
having to go through our typical
capital projects.
But this is not a normal delivery,
so.
Under the Trail Conservancy's
contract with the city, major
capital projects, like a boardwalk,
are subject to review by the
director of Austin Parks and
Recreation.
But as this meeting was happening,
Austin Parks& Recreations was
without a permanent director.
That person had left the city a
month earlier to lead the Trail
conservancy.
Kimberly McNeely would spend less
than six months on the job as the
conservancy's CEO before resigning.
Back at the Parks Department,
senior staff were still trying to
understand what was going on.
In August 2024, Parks
Manager Ricardo Solis wrote to
Assistant Parks Director Liana
Calivoca that the plan to route
the $25 million through the
Austin Public Facilities Corporation
was "...news to me."
Adding that TechStat was
"...dictating the mitigation without
our input." Calivuca dove
into the I-35 project's
environmental documents.
She found a memo from the Trail
Conservancy to TechState, saying the
city had transferred to TTC,
the primary day-to-day stewardship.
Of the Butler Trail and surrounding
park.
Kali Volkow wrote, This statement is
misleading in my opinion.
TTC in effect eliminated Parks
and Recreation's input and
involvement.
How on earth?
By January, 2025,
Kali volkow went further.
She wrote the Parks Department does
not see a need for the boardwalk.
Park staff even asked TxDOT to
redirect the $25 million to
high priority parks projects,
including some affected by the I-35
expansion.
But TextDot would not agree to that.
After all that, things
have changed again.
Now the $25 million for the
boardwalk will go to Austin Parks
and Recreation and will
require a City Council vote.
In a statement to KUT News, the
Parks Department said it will enter
into an agreement with the Trail
Conservancy to design and build the
board walk that includes milestones
and accountability.
The Trail Conservency told KUT news
that it serves as a collaborative
partner and advocate for the city.
And it's prepared to support project
delivery in close coordination with
Austin Parks and Recreation and
other city departments.
For parks advocates, all this
underscores their broader concerns
about a growing reliance by the city
on non-profits
to operate and manage public space.
The Trail Conservancy became
a competitor instead of
a cooperator with the Parks
Department.
Diana Prechter is a public parks
advocate who's been researching the
boardwalk process.
Transparency in government
becomes an incentive
for people to behave
ethically.
And by outsourcing
government functions to
non-government organizations,
you break the
continuity of transparency.
Suddenly things are done that you
can't understand, the citizens
cannot look into.
Those who support non-profits
managing parks say those
non- profits can do a better job
than the city and for less cost
to taxpayers by relying on private
donations and philanthropy.
But for now, TxDOT says if the
City Council does not approve its
proposed agreement on the boardwalk,
then the state will cancel the
project and keep the $25 million.
I'm Nathan Bernier in Austin.
This is Austin Signal here
on community supported public radio.
We'll have more after this break.
Thanks for spending part of your
Friday here with us.
This is Austin Signal, welcome back.
It's a story as old as
Texas itself.
A young musician on their 21st
birthday, no less, packing up their
belongings and heading for the green
pastures and cool waters of
Austin.
In this version though, the musician
brings along a few friends for
that journey.
For more, let's hear from Jason
Mellard with the Center for Texas
Music History at Texas State
University.
This week in Texas music history, a
Chance Nashville meeting between an
Alabamian and some Carolinians
brings new sounds to Austin.
On March 5th, 1972,
singer-songwriter Willis Alan
Ramsey, on his 21st birthday,
caught a performance by Uncle Walt's
band in Nashville and convinced the
trio to move to Austin The acoustic
group consisting of Champ Hood,
Walter Hyatt and David Ball had
formed as high schoolers in
Spartanburg, South Carolina and made
their name with eclectic
arrangements that melded their
southeastern string band sound with
jazz and blues.
Oh, if baby
runs from me,
the boots that's a high-wheel train
I know about
a lot that don't
have anything to do with
me or what I want
It makes sense that the combination
would click with Ramsey, whose
delicate song craft and wit had
established him as an influential
player in Austin's songwriting
circles.
The band released their self-titled
debut in 1974, and three
additional independent albums
followed.
Still, they were unsigned to a major
label when they first appeared on
Austin City Limits in 1980.
As journalist Townsend Miller said
of the band, of all the artists who
made the Legendary 70s scene,
I don't think any have intrigued,
captivated, hypnotized, They're one
of the hearts of Austin fans like
Uncle Walt's band.
Still, they remain something of an
underground favorite with a huge
influence on other artists.
Marcia Ball, then with the country
Freed and the Fire Dogs, credits
them with opening up her horizons by
nudging her in the direction of
Louisiana's Professor Longhair.
Lyle Lovett, who opened for Uncle
Walt's band early in his career,
became a stalwart champion, as did
their initial Austin host Willis
Allen Ransy.
Though the band split in 1983,
Hyatt, Hood, and Ball would reunite
in various combinations over the
years at the Kerrville Folk Festival
at Threadgills.
Each of the members established solo
careers in their own right.
Walter Hyatt released the albums
King Tears and Music Town,
Champ Hood, the posthumous Bon Haven
and worked with Jerry Jeff Walker
and Tony Price, and David Ball a
prolific country career, including
1994's platinum album,
Thinkin' Problem.
Their talent likely meant they would
have found a way to make music no
matter where they were, but it was
Ramsay's Tennessee invite that would
make them a part of the Texas music
story.
You can hear music from the Lone
Star State 24-7 on the
Texas Music Experience at TMX.fm.
The road
Well, it is Friday and this week
somehow is finally coming
to an end.
It was a busy one here at KUT with
lots of breaking news, primary
elections, and of course our
membership drive.
But overall this week made us
appreciative of the teamwork that we
have here at KUT, KUTx,
and the Texas Standard, work that is
made possible by a listener just
like you.
And this week also underscores the
importance of taking a break when it
all gets to be just a little too
much, and maybe focusing and
relaxing with hobbies.
Even better if those hobbies have a
community built around them, like
this group of women here in Austin
with a shared interest in
skateboarding.
Former Texas Standard intern Keyla
Holmes has the story.
Several women are walking over to
a small patch of concrete near a
bike trail in East Austin.
I actually skated here from my house
so wouldn't have been able to do
that four months ago and yeah.
Amanda Batchelor sets up near a
painted cloth banner that reads
Austin Women's Skate and a donation
box for diapers.
Batcheler has always wanted to
skate.
She started learning about six
months ago after searching for a
women's skateboard community on
Instagram.
She found the Austin Women Skate
group, and now she's among the
dozens of women who meet up twice a
month to coast.
I feel like I just kind of fell in
love with it. In your late 20s, you
just have no idea like how to make
friends.
Mental health and art therapist Brie
Valdez is one of three women who
started Austin women's skate.
This past summer, the trio would
grab their boards and meet at
Mueller Park for a cruise.
But eventually, they realized
if they were enjoying their informal
skate meetups, others probably
would too.
We saw kind of like a need in the
community for
women's skaters and a space for
women skaters to feel really
supported.
Every first and third Wednesday,
the group takes a break from their
jobs and responsibilities to let
loose and skate with one another.
This audio is from two of the
group's recent meetups.
As soon as I get on the skateboard,
I stop thinking about anything else.
As members erupt into chatter
and laughter and place their diaper
donations into a box near the extra
skateboards, organizer Carolina
Montgomery gives a little pep talk.
Have fun, be safe,
be kind, and just remember this is
space for everyone.
At every meetup, everyone introduces
themselves and sometimes
answers an icebreaker.
This evening, the group shared what
they had for lunch, gripping their
boards, waiting to disperse.
I'm Chelsea, I had green
orzo risotto
with blended broccoli
Some women have knee pads and
helmets on.
Others just have the clothes on
their backs.
Organizer Carolina Montgomery likes
to wear gear because it helps her to
feel more confident.
As a skater in her early 40s,
she believes that skateboarding has
taught her to take more risks.
I think that it's made me brave,
to be able to take chances, to take
up space, and to be okay taking
up space.
Even if I'm not the best skater,
or if I am just a beginner, or I
don't do tricks, or I'm so scared,
it's okay to take space.
Herrera grew up watching her older
male cousins skate.
But as a girl growing up in the 90s,
she felt like there wasn't much
representation in the sport.
Not seeing anybody like
me doing skateboarding made
me really nervous, made me really
scared.
Best to make time to skate.
Because for her, it's like she's
finally free to do what she's always
wanted.
I played all the Tony Hawk games and
so like I said I watched videos I
read some of the magazines and
so it definitely felt like giving my
child self something
back.
After taking a group photo,
the women all placed their feet on
the tails of their boards,
found their balance, and pushed
themselves down the bike trail.
I'm Keyla Holmes for the Texas
Standard.
And that is it for Austin
Signal this week.
Thank you for tuning in.
I'm your host, Jerry Quijano.
We will be back on Monday.
Have a beautiful weekend.