Austin Newspaper Withheld Description of Shooting Suspect As It “Could Be Harmful In Perpetuating Stereotypes”

Have we gone too far yet? Now we can’t even give out a physical description of a criminal on the loose. We’re too scared it might hurt someone’s feelings.

The Austin American-Statesman withheld a physical description of a shooting suspect because they felt that circulating the description would have promoted racial stereotypes.

At the bottom of the Austin American-Statesman’s report, the newspaper explained that it was not going to give the description that law enforcement provided of one of the suspects:

Editor’s note: Police have only released a vague description of the suspected shooter as of Saturday morning. The Austin American-Statesman is not including the description as it is too vague at this time to be useful in identifying the shooter and such publication could be harmful in perpetuating stereotypes. If more detailed information is released, we will update our reporting.

Here is the statement that the Austin Police Department released:

The Austin Police Department continues to investigate an early morning shooting that occurred in Downtown Austin where 13 victims sustained gunshot wounds or were injured, and a suspect(s) remains at-large.On Saturday, June 12, 2021, at 1:24 a.m., Austin police responded to multiple shots fired near the 400 block of E. 6th Street. At that time, a large crowd of people began to disperse in the area. Officers initially located several victims who had sustained gunshot wounds and were injured. Officers immediately began performing life-saving measures on multiple victims. Officers transported six victims in police vehicles to the hospital. Three victims were transported in personal vehicles and Austin-Travis County EMS transported four victims to local hospitals.There were a total of 13 victims who sustained gunshot wounds or were injured. Eleven victims are in stable condition, and two victims are in critical condition. At this time, no fatalities have been reported.The suspect(s) remains at-large. It is unknown if there is one, or multiple suspects involved. There is one suspect described as a black male, with dread locks, wearing a black shirt and a skinny build. The area will be closed for an extended amount of time to process the crime scene. Investigators are collecting and reviewing camera footage and surveillance video.At this time, this appears to be an isolated incident. The investigation is ongoing and this information is preliminary. Detectives are asking anyone with information or video of the incident to call APD Aggravated Assault Unit at 512-974-TIPS, utilize the Crime Stoppers tip line at 512-472-8477 (TIPS), or the Crime Stoppers app. You may remain anonymous.

You can read the full article from The Daily Wire here.