A Target employee collecting carts and a man and his granddaughter were gunned down Monday in an unprovoked and deliberate attack in a North Austin parking lot, police say.

“On behalf of the Austin Police Department, I want to express my deepest condolences to the family of Hector Martinez Machuca, Adam Chow and his 4-year-old granddaughter. Those are the lives we lost yesterday,” said Austin Chief of Police Lisa Davis. “There are no words that can truly capture the grief these families are experiencing or the shock our community feels.”

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Davis and Austin Police Sgt. Nathan Sexton, on Tuesday afternoon, released new information in the investigation into Monday’s triple homicide.

Sexton said the department received multiple 911 calls at about 2:15 p.m. alerting police to a shooting at a Target store on Research Boulevard in North Austin. Sexton said when officers arrived, they found a store employee injured in the parking lot and two others deceased.

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Sexton said investigators allege 32-year-old Ethan Nieneker targeted his victims at random and first approached Machuca and shot him at least once as he was collecting carts outside the store. Nieneker then approached a family getting into their Toyota 4-Runner, where police said he fatally shot Adam Chow and his 4-year-old granddaughter before assaulting the man’s wife and stealing their vehicle.

Machuca was taken to a hospital, where he later died. Chow and his granddaughter both died at the scene. Chow’s wife suffered a minor injury in the assault.

For about an hour after the shooting, Sexton said Nieneker was responsible for a string of incidents where he caused at least one crash, attempted to steal a water truck, assaulted a woman and threw her from her vehicle during a carjacking, and tried to break into a Waymo autonomous taxi. Police said they were also notified that Nieneker vandalized a Bible-study friend’s home, smashing a window with a brick.

Sexton said Nieneker was Tased and taken into custody by police officers who found him on the other side of the city walking naked while holding a Bible and proclaiming to be Jesus.

Investigators said the handgun Nieneker used in the shootings was acquired from a family member and was recovered in the Chow family’s 4-Runner.

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Austin Police said Nieneker is facing three murder charges, including felony murder for Machuca’s death and capital murder charges for the death of Adam Chow and his granddaughter. Sexton said Nieneker is expected to face other charges related to assault, vehicle thefts and property damage.

A mugshot released by Austin Police showed Nieneker’s face bloodied and bruised.

It’s unclear if Nieneker has obtained an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Davis said Nieneker’s history with the Austin Police Department included multiple DUI offenses, domestic assault, marijuana possession, protective order violations and two emotionally disturbed person reports from 2018. Police said Nieneker had not been committed, and it’s unclear if he had been diagnosed with mental illness.