1 dead at Rainey Street-area hotel; police investigating

APD investigating downtown Austin homicide

One person is dead after an incident in a hotel room in the Rainey Street area.

AUSTIN, Texas - One person is dead after an incident at a hotel in the Rainey Street area, the Austin Police Department said.

What we know:

Austin police say that just before 7 a.m. on Jan. 5, Austin 911 received a shoot/stab hotshot call at the Cambria Hotel at 68 East Avenue, off Rainey Street and River Street.

The incident at the center of the call was reported on the 8th floor in a hotel room.

Officers got on scene and entered the room at 7:11 a.m. and found someone with "obvious signs of trauma," said Cpl. Matthew Nonweiler in a press conference Monday morning.

Despite life-saving measures and CPR, the person was pronounced dead.

This is being investigated as Austin's third homicide of 2026.

No one has been detained, but Nonweiler said this is believed to be an isolated incident with minimal threat to the public. 

Multiple witnesses are being interviewed by homicide detectives and there is myriad surveillance footage, says Nonweiler.

What we don't know:

Austin police did not release any demographic information about the victim or how the victim died.

"The relationship of the victim to the offender, we don’t know right now," Cpl. Nonweiler said.

APD also did not disclose if the victim was a guest at the hotel.

No one has been detained and APD did not release any suspect information.

What you can do:

Anyone with information on this investigation is urged to call the APD Homicide Tip Line at 512-472-8477.