SHOOTING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

SHOOTING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 42 (Thursday, March 5, 2026)] [House] [Pages H2459-H2463] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SHOOTING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS (Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr. Roy of Texas was recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.) Mr. ROY. Mr. Speaker, this past weekend in Austin, Texas, near where I live, we had a tragedy where an individual shot a bunch of Austonians, including several University of Texas students, at a bar on what we call West Sixth Street, in an area that I frequented often when I was in law school, a little less often these days. But it is an area that is a fairly normal place for people to go, not generally perceived as dangerous. This past Saturday night, early Sunday morning, even as I believe I was returning home from the San Antonio Rodeo, or I had been there, I wake up in the morning to find out that there were three people who had been killed, one of whom was the shooter, and then later a fourth person would die, a third victim. It was an unnecessary, senseless act. It is compounded by not just normal violence, but why this individual was here in the first place. I think we have got to wrestle with some serious questions about who we allow into this country and why. The individual who killed these students--by the way, there were multiple others who were shot having surgeries. One young woman, a young student, was shot multiple times in her abdomen, and another young man who was shot in his head. It was not just the three dead victims. Other people were hurt. Other people were traumatized by it. The individual who did it was wearing a ``Property of Allah'' sweatshirt, had a Koran in the back seat of the car that he had traveled in, was wearing an Iranian flag T-shirt under the ``Property of Allah'' sweatshirt. What we know about him is that he came here from Senegal in 2000, overstayed his visa. In 2006, he obtains LPR, or legal permanent residency status, under the Bush administration--I am going to be an equal opportunity basher of administrations who have failed to secure our border properly--and did so on the back of supposedly a marriage to an American citizen. Fast forward to 2012, under Obama, he gets full citizenship, which Obama was handing out like candy, and then tries to get LPR status for two additional women, allegedly women he was marrying. I don't know whether in succession or at the same time. All I know is he was trying to do that. Fast forward, he was arrested for a hit-and-run alleged in 2022. My fundamental question is: Why are we importing people who are deeply at odds with the values of our country and Western civilization? Why are we doing that? Why have we done that exponentially in the wake of the attacks of 9/11/2001? It doesn't make any sense. This is avoidable. This man didn't need to be in the United States who does not share our values and clearly was interested in serving his convictions for Iran and radical Islamism more than his commitment to this country, peace, and our rule of law. I am going to have more to say about that, but related to this topic, I am proud to be the cofounder, alongside my friend and fellow Texan, Keith Self, a veteran, a great public servant, longtime public servant, a great friend, who shares my conviction--I won't speak for him, but shares my conviction for ensuring we defend our values, our Western civilization, the rule of law in our country; that we stand up against the Islamist movement, putting sharia law forward in direct conflict with our laws. I know my friend has a limited time, so I would like to yield some time to him to speak on this subject that concerns us both so greatly. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my good friend from Texas (Mr. Self). Mr. SELF. Mr. Speaker, I thank my very good friend, fellow Texan colleague and cofounder of the Sharia-Free America Caucus, Congressman Chip Roy, for yielding me time. First of all, I have been aware of and been involved in Iran since 1979. I commanded the Special Forces Detachment 18 at that time. While the trigger was not pulled, I was in a forward-deployed battalion, and we were prepared to go in early to get the hostages should we need to. We had just came out of a--actually, we had literally, just the week before, I believe, come out of a shooting house in northern Germany where we had actually rehearsed a hostage rescue. I also was involved in Iran in 1984, when the 82nd Airborne Division was preparing Op Plan 1004. I have been cognizant of and aware of Iran and planning for Iran since the late seventies, since the ayatollah took over. Mr. Speaker, we have in the United States one Constitution, one legal system, and one supreme law of the land. No foreign code, no religious legal system, and no ideology that rejects our founding principles has any place here. {time} 1820 Just this week, as you heard, on March 3, 2026, Texas Republicans delivered an overwhelming message that cannot be ignored, should not be ignored. Proposition 10, which states that the State of Texas should prohibit sharia law, passed by--get this--a 95-percent landslide in the Republican primary. Texans are saying loud and clear: American law only. Sharia is not compatible with our Constitution, and our constituents reject any attempt to import it. [[Page H2460]] This nonbinding proposition is a clarion call to this Congress: Protect our sovereignty before it is too late. Tragically, just 2 days before that vote, on March 1, we witnessed exactly why this mandate is so urgent. In Austin, Texas, as the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) just outlined for you, a gunman opened fire on innocent people enjoying their night. He killed three young Americans. We always say their names: 19-year-old Ryder Harrington, a Texas Tech student; 21-year-old Savitha Shan, a University of Texas student; and 30-year-old Jorge Pederson. Mr. Speaker, 13 others were wounded, some critically. The suspect, as you have heard, was a naturalized U.S. citizen, originally from Senegal, who entered the United States on a B-2 tourist visa in March 2000, overstayed illegally, married a U.S. citizen in 2006 to adjust status to lawful permanent resident, and was naturalized as a full citizen in April 2013, despite a history of arrests both before and after receiving his green card. Our broken legal system let him in, let him stay, and, disturbingly, made him one of us via naturalization. Investigators found him wearing a sweatshirt emblazoned with ``Property of Allah'' and an undershirt featuring an Iranian flag design, and recovered a Koran from his vehicle. The FBI is investigating this as having a potential nexus to radical Islamic terrorism tied to U.S. actions involving Iran. These three young lives filled with promise, dreams, and futures were stolen in an instant. This is not random violence. The symbols were unmistakable and intentional: ``Property of Allah,'' references to Iran, and a Koran at the scene. This attack was a direct, bloody manifestation of the supremacist ideology that sharia promotes, one that claims divine authority over man-made law, demands submission, and justifies violence against those who stand in its way. Islam steeped in sharia teachings that reject equality under the law, free speech, and constitutional governance is not some abstract debate. It arrived here through failed vetting and immigration loopholes. It took root over the years as a legal resident and citizen, and struck at the heart of Texas. The enemy is inside the gates. Wake up, America. We don't have to accept this. We don't have to watch leaders, Republican and Democrat, allow individuals from regions hostile to our values to enter on temporary visas, overstay, marry their way into permanent status, become naturalized despite red flags, and then unleash terror on our streets. This horror is precisely why Proposition 10 passed with such overwhelming numbers, because sharia ideology fosters the very extremism that turns foreign loyalties or personal grievances into mass murder on American soil. This brings us to the heart of this matter. Sharia is not merely personal religious observation. It is a comprehensive political and legal system that stands in direct conflict with everything we hold sacred. As Karl Popper warned in ``The Open Society and Its Enemies'': ``Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.'' In the name of tolerance, we must claim the right not to tolerate the intolerant, although I admit that we, unfortunately, have to tolerate the Democrats. Sharia, as a supremacist ideology that demands submission and rejects our freedoms, falls squarely into this category. It refuses to tolerate dissent, equality, or our Nation's law. To preserve America's tolerance, liberty, and open society, we must firmly reject and refuse to accommodate sharia. Unlimited tolerance for such intolerance would destroy the very foundations of our tolerant Republic. Sharia includes clear, real-world practices that directly violate our Constitution, such as wife beatings. Although, in America, you are prohibited from breaking your wife's bones--I mean, it is disturbing that we even have to say this. It includes forced child marriages, child genital mutilation, and death penalties for apostasy, which is leaving Islam, and blasphemy. It also includes harsh penalties, like hand amputations for theft and stonings for adultery, and public floggings. Sharia law is systemic inequality. Women receive only half as much inheritance as men. Their courtroom testimony counts as half a man's value. Non-Muslims are treated as second-class cit