APD: South Lamar Crash Kills One
- On May 3, Austin police say a pickup truck hit an SUV on South Lamar, and 2-year-old Abbi Sofia Romero Aular later died. - Police arrested 30-year-old Keegan Shirley on an intoxication manslaughter charge after the 9:54 p.m. crash in the 2700 block. - It became Austin’s 28th fatal crash of 2026 — one more deadly wreck than the city had by this date last year.
A South Lamar crash that first looked like another late-night fatality update turned into something much worse — a 2-year-old girl died, another passenger was badly hurt, and police arrested a driver on an intoxication manslaughter charge. The crash happened Sunday night, May 3, in the 2700 block of South Lamar Boulevard. Austin police say a pickup truck and an SUV collided there around 9:54 p.m. One of the SUV’s passengers, Abbi Sofia Romero Aular, was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead. (austintexas.gov) ### Who was killed? The victim was Abbi Sofia Romero Aular, born March 24, 2024. That means the person killed in this crash was a toddler — not an adult driver, not a pedestrian, but a very young child riding in the SUV. That detail changes the emotional weight of the story (austintexas.gov)e. (austintexas.gov) ### What do police say happened? Police say the collision involved a pickup truck and an SUV on South Lamar near Menchaca. Two passengers from the SUV were taken to a local hospital with serious injuries. One of them was Abbi. The public version of the case is still thin on (austintexas.gov) two vehicles, severe injuries in the SUV, and one death after transport. (austintexas.gov) ### Who was arrested? Austin police identified the arrested driver as 30-year-old Keegan Shirley. He was booked on an intoxication manslaughter charge. Basically, investigators are not treating this as only an accident report anymore. They’re saying suspected impairment is central enough to support a felony arrest while the larger investigation continues. (austintexas.gov) ### Why does South Lamar matter here? South Lamar is not some isolated frontage road. It’s one of South Austin’s busiest corridors — lots of through traffic, lots of turning movements, lots of conflict points packed into a dense urban stretch. When a fatal crash shuts part o(austintexas.gov) reopened. (kvue.com) ### Is this part of a bigger pattern? Yes — and that’s the part that makes these APD fatality notices feel cumulative. Police said this was Austin’s 28th fatal crash of 2026, resulting in 28 deaths. On the same date in 2025, the ci(kvue.com)to those crashes is a bit lower. (kvue.com) ### What still isn’t known? A lot. Police have not publicly walked through speed, lane position, signal phase, or the exact sequence that led to impact. They also haven’t released the full evidentiary basis for the intoxication cha(kvue.com) in the reconstruction later if the case keeps moving. (austintexas.gov) ### What’s the bottom line? This was not just a road closure story. It was a Sunday night crash on South Lamar that left a 2-year-old dead and put a driver in jail on an intoxication manslaughter charge. The investigation will keep sorting out the exact chain of events, but (austintexas.gov)turned into Austin’s 28th fatal crash of the year. (austintexas.gov)
