Overview

• Austin police arrested 32-year-old Ethan Nieneker and said the Monday parking-lot shooting at a North Austin Target that killed Rosa Machuca, 65-year-old Adam Chow and his granddaughter Astrid was random.
• Kim Dang, Machuca’s fiancée of 11 years, has publicly condemned the Austin Police Department for releasing statements and social posts that reverted to her partner’s legal name despite acknowledging her as Rosa.
• Advocates note that a 2024 Texas Department of Public Safety policy and a 2025 law bar court orders from updating name and gender markers on state IDs, preventing Machuca from aligning her documents with her lived identity.
• Critics point to APD’s 2016 misidentification of transgender victim Monica Loera and a subsequent Austin City Council resolution as evidence that official practices still risk deadnaming and misgendering.
• Friends and co-workers remember Machuca as a kind shift lead at Target who aspired to a journalism career and brought positivity to everyone around her.