Two off-duty employees from Central Texas Gun Works had just arrived at an east Austin club when they came under attack from a dozen thugs who had been kicked out of the watering hole for getting into it with another group inside. They apparently mistook the two gun store employees for being members of the group they’d been arguing with inside and were still looking to scrap.
The mob swarmed the two without provocation. One employee was beaten and knocked unconscious, suffering a skull fracture and broken ribs. That’s when the second man drew his gun. Seeing the attack continuing on his friend and fearing for their lives, he opened fire.
One of the attackers was killed. The employee then wisely retreated from the still-chaotic scene to avoid the remaining assailants. He sought medical treatment, and was later taken into custody. He now sits in the Travis County jail facing a murder charge. His injured colleague is recovering in the hospital. None of the thugs who attacked them is facing charges from Garza.
Michael Cargill, owner of Central Texas Gun Works, says two of his employees were involved in the shooting.
He says one is in the hospital, the other is being charged with murder.
He says altercation that led to the shooting happened because a group of 12 people mistook them… https://t.co/DmXXVh6TcS pic.twitter.com/xu1EC4X0jr
— Vinny Martorano (@VinnyMartorano) April 11, 2026
Meanwhile, Central Texas Gun Works owner Michael Cargill couldn’t be clearer:
My employee did exactly what I would have done. He did exactly what he was trained to do by stopping that threat.” He emphasized that both men were simply trying to enjoy their evening and had zero involvement in the club’s earlier disturbance. “These people were in the parking lot who had just gotten kicked out of the club and mistook my employees as someone who was actually involved.
This was the city’s 20th homicide of 2026, but it wasn’t gang violence like so many of the others have been. This time it was a textbook example of a law-abiding Texan exercising his Second Amendment right to defend life against overwhelming criminal violence.
That’s no surprise under the Travis County DA. The Soros-backed prosecutor has built a reputation for going after police officers and self-defenders while showing leniency toward criminals—a pattern that has drawn widespread criticism from law enforcement and conservatives alike.
Good guys with guns who stop threats? They get charged. The bad guys who swarm and nearly kill innocent people are often ignored or deprioritized. Just as in this case.
The good news is that Cargill has vowed full legal support for his team through the store’s attorneys. The employees’ identities remain private for now, but the defender’s actions probably saved lives—their own and possibly others in that parking lot.
In a city plagued by crime, the employee who shot and killed one of their attackers acted responsibly, decisively, and heroically to stop a deadly threat. He deserves a commendation, not cuffs. Texas law is crystal clear on self-defense, especially against a mob of this size. The real question Austinites should be asking is why is the system is punishing the victims instead of the attackers?
From Fox 7:
Austin police say that at around 8:40 p.m. April 10, they received a call about a disturbance outside the Cabana Club in the 5000 block of E. 7th Street.
The call was in reference to a group of people inside the club, then outside the club in an altercation that resulted in gunfire.
Officers responded to the scene a few minutes later to find an adult man with obvious trauma to his body. Life-saving measures were attempted but were ultimately unsuccessful. The man was pronounced dead at 9:02 p.m. …
“These people were in the parking lot who had just gotten kicked out of the club and mistook my employees as someone who was actually involved in an incident which happened in the club.” said Cargill. “They immediately started jumping on my employees, assaulting them.”
He went on to claim that as the altercation continued, more people joined in on the assault against his employees, with as many as twelve people being involved. Eventually, one of his employees was knocked unconscious, which led to the other employee taking action.
“My other employee saw that he was knocked unconscious and made his decision to pull out his firearm and stop the threat.”