Man in Halloween costume arrested; APD prepares for weekend

Joe Blackman has been a regular at Buzz Mill Coffee in southeast Austin for years, but when he arrived Wednesday night, he was met with flashing lights and sirens. I had just arrived as I think the incident had happened, so everything was starting to unfold. The ambulance was leaving, the police were arriving, and I think there was a real sense of people who were outside of the venue as, you know, what's going on. Police say two people were stabbed and brought to the hospital, one with life-threatening injuries, a second with non-life-threatening injuries. It's very different when you're there and you start to kind of, your heart starts to race, and especially something that's unfolding. And there's an active, not caught person on the loose. You know, it does start to worry you. So, you know, I left the area. Officers later found the suspect on a walking trail near Rosewood and Chestnut Avenue in East Austin. The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Shanker Temple Grace, was arrested for two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Court records show Grace has a criminal history in Bastrop, dating back to 2023, including charges of evading arrest, reckless driving, and resisting arrest. APD confirming Grace was in a zombie costume at the time of the stabbing. Police say it doesn't typically see people using Halloween costumes to capitalize on crime. That's not something that we normally observe downtown. And again, I think that one's just related to it's Halloween time. People are going to costume parties and that's what caused that to occur. And as Austin prepares for Halloween, APD expects between 80 to 100,000 people in the entertainment districts alone with several street closures in place. Police will have an increased presence along with anti-vehicle barriers and fencing to keep pedestrians safe and to allow emergency crews to get through. And with the UT game, Austin FC game, and daylight saving time, police say the extra hour could pose more challenges. That is a tremendous deal for us. Usually we're only used to visitors consuming alcohol for a certain period of time, and you give them an extra hour to consume alcohol, it's going to cause more problems with intoxications. Usually with more intoxicated people, you get more fights down on 6th Street. Despite all that happened at Buzz Mill, Blackman says he won't let it keep him from enjoying Halloween. There's always going to be bad people, right? But that can't stop us going about our daily lives and having fun.