A woman had just gotten out of a car with friends in downtown Austin on Thursday night and was heading toward Sixth Street when Austin police say a homeless woman approached her and stabbed her in the back of the head.

The attack was one of several that happened in the area within a 30-minute time span before police arrested a suspect, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said Friday. Authorities believe the same woman randomly stabbed at least four people. One victim’s wounds are serious; none of the victims’ injuries are life-threatening.

Raecala Morris, 33, was arrested and was still in the Travis County Jail on Friday afternoon on an aggravated assault charge, records show. Manley said more charges against her could be on the way.

More police — many of them working overtime hours — will be in downtown Austin this weekend and for the next several weekends as the Austin Police Department steps up security ahead of South by Southwest and other festivals in the spring, Manley said. Gov. Greg Abbott has also ordered Texas Department of Public Safety troopers to patrol areas near the University of Texas and the Capitol in response to previous downtown stabbings.

Police also say a man shot and killed another man in a separate incident early Thursday at a homeless camp in Southeast Austin. Danny Wing, 61, was arrested and charged with murder after police found the victim, whom officials have not identified.

"We’re going to take a very strong stance on what has been an increasing level of assault that we’ve seen so far this year," Manley said.

Abbott on Friday once again blamed a spike in violence this month on the Austin City Council’s decision last year to amend its ordinances outlining where people can sleep and sit outside.

"City of Austin leaders have allowed lawlessness throughout the capital city that is resulting in violence against Austin residents, including those who are homeless," Abbott said. "Public endangerment and murder can no longer be tolerated because of the actions — and inactions — by city officials. Mayor Adler and the City Council should reinstate the camping ban and restore the rule of law in Austin. The city’s gamble on these reckless policies has been a loser and must end now."

Abbott previously has blamed the ordinance changes for a South Austin stabbing this month that left a man dead. Police have said Dylan Woodburn, a 27-year-old homeless man, entered the Freebirds World Burrito restaurant in the 500 block of South Congress Avenue on Jan. 3 and randomly stabbed two employees, including 34-year-old Johnathan Aguilar, who died from his injuries.

Manley said violent crime in the city has increased since June, when the camping ordinance was amended, but he did not correlate the increase with the law’s change.

However, Mayor Steve Adler said in a statement late Friday that while the new spike in violence is a serious concern, there is "no demonstrated link" to those living on the streets.

"Last year around spring festival time, there was a spike in downtown violence that was successfully addressed with a deliberate increase in police presence," Adler said. "No one linked that spike to homelessness and it occurred prior to the homelessness ordinance changes."

Adler said he supports Manley’s plan to increase downtown police presence, but said "there’s no justification for changing back our homelessness ordinances."

Downtown attacks

On Friday, Morris confessed to stabbing several people after police arrested her, Manley said.

"It does not appear there was any interaction or conversation" that happened before Morris attacked the first woman around 11:30 p.m. Thursday, Manley said. "As the suspect passed the group, she turned around, went to the victim and struck her in the back of the head."

Her friends flagged down a police officer, who found the woman "lying on the ground in a pool of blood," Manley said.

A second victim approached police at 12:07 a.m. Friday on East Sixth and Neches streets. She was standing on the sidewalk when a person came up and struck her from behind "with something that felt like a solid object," Manley said.

Both of these victims had lacerations on the back of their heads and were taken to the hospital, he said.

The second victim recognized her attacker as a local homeless woman who often stands outside a downtown business where the victim works, Manley said.

Police received a 911 call from a third female victim around the same time at East Sixth and Red River streets. The woman had lacerations on her shoulder and wrist and was also taken to the hospital, Manley said.

Austin police consulted their downtown Austin security cameras and found footage of some of these assaults, as well as at least one other incident in which Morris attacked people, Manley said.

Investigators are still working to determine whether a fifth attack also happened.

"The possibility exists that other individuals were assaulted that have not yet come forward and reported it," he said. "If that is the case, we need those individuals to come forward."

Manley declined to say where the fourth assault happened, but he said it was in downtown during the same period as the other attacks.

Officers used the footage to track Morris down in front of the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless and arrest her, he said. Officers also recovered the knife they believe was used in the attacks.

About 24 hours earlier, police say Danny Wing shot and killed a man in front of a tent at a homeless camp in the 4400 block of East St. Elmo Road. The victim died at the scene.

Witnesses told police the victim had come to visit a person at the homeless camp. The victim approached the person, who was with Wing, and extended a handshake to Wing, but Wing produced a handgun and shot the victim, police said.

The victim fell to the ground, and Wing stood over him and shot him again, police said.

Police did not say why Wing shot the man.