The Gunfight at the Wal-Mart Corral: Raceless Suspect Shoots 4 in Parking Lot at 4:30 A.M., in Planned “Altercation” (Cedar Park, Texas/Austin Suburb)

By Nicholas Stix
Updated on Monday, August 20, 2012, at 6:56 a.m.

The reader whom I thank for sending me this story believes that the shooter was “a son of Obama,” due to the movement of blacks from historically black East Austin, which “is being gentrified,” to Cedar Park. But the census numbers I came up with say that the real inundation is from Hispanics, which has to be mostly aliens, and since the Austin American-Statesman story says that this was a planned gunfight, a la the O.K. Corral—“that a group of people met in the parking (lot) of the (Wal-Mart) for an altercation, and that is when at least one person started shooting”—I’m going to bet that it involved Hispanic gangs.

We’ll just have to see who is correct.

Probability the shooter was neither Hispanic nor black: Zero.

Note that Cedar Park is still middle-class, overall, with family income ($68,789 vs. $48,259) and home values ($180,502 vs. $125,800) that in 2009 were both still over 40 percent higher than the Texas averages, respectively, but that won’t last very long, if it’s become the sort of town where duels at Wal-Mart become normal.(It’s all relative, though, and Texas income and property numbers look pretty weak.)

Cedar Park, TX 78613, 78630

• White alone - 33,909 (69.3%)
• Hispanic - 9,279 (19.0%)
• Asian alone - 2,439 (5.0%)
• Black alone - 1,985 (4.1%)
• Two or more races - 1,061 (2.2%)
• American Indian alone - 152 (0.3%)
• Other race alone - 78 (0.2%)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone - 34 (0.07%)

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Police: 4 shot at Cedar Park Wal-Mart; suspect in custody
By Farzad Mashhood | Sunday, August 19, 2012, 09:33 AM

Updated at 10:35 a.m.: Cedar Park Police Capt. Mike Harmon said the majority of the Wal-Mart at 201 Walton Way is open again. The entire store was shut down following an early morning shooting in a parking lot where four people were injured, Harmon said.

In a news release, Harmon said police believe “that a group of people met in the parking (lot) of the (Wal-Mart) for an altercation, and that is when at least one person started shooting.”

“No Walmart employees or customers were injured in this incident,” Harmon said.

Updated at 9:45 a.m.: Four people were shot and hospitalized, according to Williamson County EMS officials.

A fifth person, the suspected shooter, was also hospitalized for evaluation, EMS officials said.

Earlier: Multiple people have been hospitalized this morning after a shooting in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Cedar Park, police said.

An unidentified suspect is in custody following what police described as an altercation that occured [sic] about 4:30 a.m. in the parking lot of the store off U.S. 183 and FM 1431.

“The store is shut down, but that’s Wal-Mart’s doing, until our investigation in the parking lot is done,” said Cedar Park Police Capt. Mike Harmon.

Harmon said police were unsure how many victims were hospitalized or how the altercation began. No store employees were injured or involved, Harmon said.