A group of teenage boys accused of terrorizing Austin during a weekend-long rampage all share a haircut so notorious it has been banned in an entire country.
The three - one of whom is 15, another 17, with the third one's age undisclosed, allegedly stole guns and cars, then shot at fire stations and apartments.
Four people were hospitalized after 12 separate shootings, with panic spreading after photos showed the suspects all sporting the controversial 'Edgar' haircut, which is outlawed in El Salvador.
The bowl cut style, worn by teens and young men of mostly Mexican descent in the US, has become reviled in Hispanic communities over its association with criminal behavior.
Lawmakers in El Salvador banned it over its links to gangsterism.
In a TikTok video of Sunday's arrest of one of the shooting suspects in Manor, Texas, several users noticed the divisive hair do on the suspect as he was handcuffed by cops.
'Lordy Edgar,' commented TikTik user @Marlynmonrosa.
'Is that an Edgar haircut,' asked user @ElusiveDee.
Two of the three suspects in Austin's shooting spree can be seen above. A dozen shootings have been connected to these suspects, the Austin Police Department stated
The Sunday arrest of one of three Austin shooting suspect was captured in a video shared on TikTok by officers in Manor, Texas-- a town just outside the Eastern boundary of the Texas capital
'The Edgar' has also been banned in some schools and restaurants in Texan cities with large Hispanic populations, like El Paso and San Antonio.
It has featured in an increasing number of mugshots in the Lone Star State.
'Especially in El Paso, we've had a lot of crimes that were committed by people who just happened to have this same hair cut, the administrator of El Paso's most popular Instagram account, @therealfitfamElPaso (who asked to remain anonymous) told the Daily Mail in June 2024.
'Where we are now: we just kind of correlate these guys to be bad dudes, even though there's plenty of good dudes with the same cut.'
Described as a combination of Moe from Three Stooges and Spock from Star Trek, the haircut, which is named after Mayor League Baseball star Edgar Martinez, grew in popularity during the pandemic.
Some Edgars insist the hairstyle predates any connotations with criminality and that it has Native American origins, specifically the Jumano tribe that lived in Texas between 1500s and 1700s.
The weekend crime spree that investigators believe was carried out by the teenagers with Edgar haircuts comprised four car thefts.
Among the four people shot were a woman who was sitting in her car talking on the phone and a man who was walking his dog.
Austin Police Department said the most seriously-injured victim was left in a 'critical' condition, with no further updates on the victims given.
Police were hunting for two suspects in connection with multiple shootings which left up to four people injured
Several young men with 'Edgar' haircuts are suspects in a capital murder case in San Antonio, Texas for a May 2022 murder, according to local station KENS 5. The bowl cut has become synonymous with crime
Police confirmed on Sunday that the two suspects have been caught, but a third remained on the loose
In 2024, a restaurant in San Antonio sparked controversy after threatening to ban customers who have Edgar haircuts
Austin police have yet to say whether the Edgars suspected of the spree will be charged as adults or minors.
As of Sunday afternoon, Austin's police chief said investigators had yet to speak to them, as parental presence is usually required when suspects are underage.
'They are juveniles and so at this point we are not interviewing them, but they are going to be taken to juvenile detention,' Chief Lisa Davis explained.
Davis added that the 17-year-old suspect has a warrant for his arrest separate from this weekend's crime spree for stealing guns.
Names of underage suspects are also not made public unless they are charged as adults.
The Austin Police Department did not respond to Daily Mail's questions about when or how it would determine how to charge them.