Gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at Halloween party, four hurt

AUSTIN, Texas — (CBS AUSTIN) Police say a man dressed as Santa Claus opened fire at a Halloween party in Central Austin on Avenue F near 56th Street around 6 a.m. Sunday.

Crime tape lined the street all day Sunday as police continued investigating the shooting that left four people critically injured.

"I've been on this block for about 12 years now,” said Tim Kaupis, who attended the Halloween party.

He says he knew the woman who threw the party and says she was one of the victims.

"It was a good party. She always has good parties. There's never anybody aggressive that comes over. Like I said, she was a victim of gun violence. Very unnecessary,” Kaupis said.

Kaupis says he spoke with the shooter earlier that night and had no idea something like this would happen.

"He's always been very cordial to us. He's always been stable to us, but like I said, he never showed any signs to me,” Kaupis said.

He says, luckily for him, he left hours before the shooting started.

Another neighbor who didn’t want to go on camera says he heard yelling before the shooting.

"I heard like a loud belligerent male voice. It sounded like he was kind of angry and talking a little bit of smack,” the neighbor said.

He says he nearly got involved in the confrontation.

"I was hoping that he didn't do anything in my yard, I was thinking that maybe I would have to come out,” he said.

Police say when they got there, they found the shooter still dressed as Santa Claus, at another location just down the block where the shooting happened.

Two of the victims in the shooting suffered critical, life-threatening injuries. A third person was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and a fourth person was treated at the scene.

Police have not said what charges the shooter will face.