SXSW killer of 4 jailed for life

A drunk driver who killed four people at 2014’s South By Southwest festival in Texas when he was trying to avoid a police traffic stop has been jailed for life.

Rashad Owens’ car plowed into a crowd of SXSW revellers in downtown Austin in March of last year and he was charged with the capital murder of four people. A number of others were injured in the incident.

Prosecutors said he was drunk at the time and his defence team called no witnesses at his week-long trial, Keye TV reports. The verdict means he will automatically spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Family members of the victims addressed Owens, 23, in court, with Shon Cook, mother of victim Jamie West, saying: “Her husband is broken beyond repair. I pray to God that he heals a little bit.”

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.