Hero Austin cops who took down Islamic terrorist during mass shooting face grand jury hearing, possible indictments

The three Austin, Texas police officers who stopped a mass shooting at a bar over the weekend will have to appear before a grand jury, who will decide whether charges should be brought in the case. The officers fatally shot Ndiaga Diagne, who is suspected of killing three people in the shooting at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden.

Attorney Doug O'Connell said that the Austin Police Association has requested that his team represent the three officers as they face a grand jury. He wrote, "The Austin Police Association has asked my team to represent the 3 heroes that took down the terrorist killer who attacked our community. Unfortunately they will face a Grand Jury hearing - as is the process directed to the Travis County DA by the Wren Collective. We will be with them every step of the way."

O’Connell wrote that in Austin, "the Wren Collective requires the DA to have a Grand Jury consider charges every time a police officer uses force. And the DA completely controls the Grand Jury & decides what evidence they see and what they’re prohibited from seeing."

Killed in the shooting were 30-year-old Jorge Pederson, 19-year-old Texas Tech student Ryder Harrington, and 21-year-old University of Texas student Savitha Shan. Over a dozen others were injured. Authorities said that Diagne had a "potential nexus to terrorism," and he was wearing a "Property of Allah" sweatshirt during the shooting.

The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LEFDF) raised concerns about the Wren Collective in September, saying that the left-wing organization is linked to over 40 district attorneys across the country, including Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza, where Austin is located. The LELDF said that Garza "entered into a non-disclosure agreement to work with Wren in 2022."

LEFDF wrote in its report, "The Wren Collective LLC, exerts undue influence on the criminal justice policies of these district attorneys – controlling messaging, writing policies on everything from bail to police involved shootings, and even interfering in homicide and police misconduct cases."

The report added, "The range of ‘model’ policies and procedures that Wren wrote for its prosecutor clients touch on almost every aspect of the justice system, from how to prosecute offenders (i.e., bail, charging, pleas, and sentencing changes) to their approach to policing (i.e., Brady lists and office-involved shootings). In jurisdiction after jurisdiction and on issue after issue, Wren’s policy prescriptions were adopted almost entirely and often verbatim by elected district attorneys."