Clinton, Obama links to Austin mass shooting suspect Ndiaga Diagne, the Senegalese-born US citizen; FBI probes possible terror links

Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old Senegalese-born US citizen who first entered the United States on a tourist visa in 2000 during the Clinton administration and later became a naturalized citizen under Obama, is now at the center of a federal terrorism investigation after allegedly killing two people and injuring 14 others in a mass shooting near the University of Texas at Austin early Sunday (March 1).

What happened?

After allegedly killing two people and wounding 14 others in an early Sunday rampage outside a Texas bar, Diagne was identified as having obtained lawful permanent resident status in June 2006 through an IR-6 visa after marrying a US citizen, the source said.


Police said the gunman killed two and injured 14 outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin before being shot dead. He wore a “Property of Allah” hoodie, and a Quran was found in his car, sources said.

The FBI is investigating whether the shooting was linked to US‑Israel actions against Iran, noting the gunman wore an undershirt with Iranian imagery, though officials say his motive remains unclear.

Before obtaining permanent residency, he had already been arrested at least once, for illegal vending in New York City in June 2001.

According to New York Post website, he was arrested three more times in New York between 2008 and 2016, sources said, but those cases did not prevent him from becoming a naturalized US citizen on April 5, 2013, around the start of former President Barack Obama’s second term.

Diagne submitted an asylum application in 2016, but it was not immediately clear what grounds he cited or how the case was resolved.