APD: Deadly South Lamar Crash Details

A South Austin crash that first looked like another overnight road closure turned into a much heavier story by Monday. A 2-year-old girl, Abbi Sofia Romero Aular, died after a collision on the 2700 block of South Lamar Boulevard, and Austin police arrested 30-year-old Keegan Shirley at the scene. The case now sits in that awful overlap between traffic enforcement, impaired driving, and the city’s broader fatal-crash problem. What changed on May 4 was the release of the victim’s identity and the charges police say follow from the early investigation. (austintexas.gov) ### What actually happened on South Lamar? Police say officers were called at about 9:54 p.m. on Sunday, May 3, to a two-vehicle crash involving a pickup truck and an SUV in the 2700 block of South Lamar Boulevard, near Menchaca Road. Two passengers from the SUV were taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, and one of them later died. Other people involved had minor injuries. (austintexas.gov) ### Who was killed? The person who died was Abbi Sofia Romero Aular, a girl born on March 24, 2024. That means she had just turned 2 years old a little over a month before the crash. That detail makes the story land differently — this was not just a fatality count moving up by one, but the death of a very young child riding in the SUV. (austintexas.gov) ### Who was arrested? Police identified the pickup driver as Keegan Shirley, age 30. APD says he was arrested and booked on two charges: intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and intoxication assault with a vehicle causing serious bodily injury. Those charges tell you where investigators are leaning right now — no(austintexas.gov)ed survivor remains part of the criminal case. (austintexas.gov) ### Why do the charges matter so much? Because they narrow the story fast. A lot of fatal-crash investigations begin with very little public detail beyond time, place, and lane closures. Here, APD moved quickly enough to announce an arrest and specific intoxication-related charges within about a day. The catch is tha(austintexas.gov)rtroom version of events. (austintexas.gov) ### How long was South Lamar shut down? The crash closed the roadway for hours overnight. KXAN says officers reopened Lamar just before 3 a.m. Monday, and KVUE says the southbound lanes were temporarily shut before reopening. That matters because South Lamar is one of those corridors where a serious crash does not st(austintexas.gov)th Austin. (kxan.com) ### Where does this fit in Austin’s bigger crash picture? APD says this is Austin’s 28th fatal crash of 2026, resulting in 28 deaths. On the same date in 2025, the city had recorded 27 fatal crashes but 31 deaths, which means last year’s crashes had been deadlier in total by that point even though the crash count was slightly lower. Basically, the city is still tracking at a grim pace. (austintexas.gov) ### What do we still not know? Police have not publicly laid out a full crash reconstruction yet — no detailed sequence of movement, no speed estimate, and no broader narrative about how the pickup and SUV came together. APD is asking anyone with information to contact its Vehicular Homicide unit or submit an anonymous tip through Crime Stoppers. (austintexas.gov) ### Bottom line? This story is now less about a generic “deadly South Lamar crash” and more about a specific allegation: Austin police say an impaired driver hit an SUV, a 2-year-old girl died, another passenger was seriously hurt, and the case has already turned criminal. The investigation is still open, but the basic shape of the tragedy is clear. (austintexas.gov)