City of Austin
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASERelease Date:
Contact: APD Public Information Office 512-974-5017 Email
Case: 22-0651094
Date: March 6, 2022
Time: 4:46 p.m.
Location: 800 Block of East St. Johns Ave.
Suspect: The Department is awaiting final identification from the Austin Travis-County Medical Examiner’s Office
The Austin Police Department (APD) continues to investigate the officer-involved shooting that occurred late in the afternoon on Sunday, March 6, 2022.
At approximately 2:55 p.m., APD officers responded to a 9-1-1 call of a shooting that had just occurred at a hotel in the area of the 7100 block of N. IH-35 southbound service road. Officers arrived at this location and, through the course of the investigation, discovered that a gunshot victim with potentially life threatening injuries had been transported to a local hospital. The shooting victim was treated and later released from the hospital.
The officer-involved shooting is not related to this initial shooting call. However, as a result of this initial shooting call, two officers were in the area of 7100 block of N. IH-35 southbound service road looking for possible video evidence of the shooting to assist with the investigation. At approximately 4:45 p.m., the two officers were on foot, in a parking lot near a convenience store when they heard multiple gunshots coming from the intersection area of IH-35 and St. Johns Ave. The officers approached the area, still on foot, from where they heard the gunshots, while simultaneously alerting other officers on the police radio of the shots fired. Although Chief Chacon stated during his press conference Sunday evening after the shooting that the man was firing into a tent, further investigation has revealed that the man instead fired in the area of a tent.
Both officers identified themselves as Austin Police Officers and gave commands to the man to get on the ground. The man did not comply with the commands, turned in the direction of the officers while pointing a gun in their direction, and began to fire multiple shots in their direction. The officers returned fire from their APD-issued handguns. The man was struck and fell to the ground. Within seconds, both officers made physical contact with the man, safely secured a gun next to him, and began life-saving measures. At approximately 4:52 p.m., Austin-Travis County EMS and Austin Fire Department arrived on scene and continued life-saving measures. The man succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at 5:06 p.m. APD is awaiting final identification of the man from the Austin Travis-County Medical Examiner’s Office. Civilians and officers on scene did not sustain physical injuries.
A gun was recovered on the scene next to where the man fell to the ground.
This incident was captured on body worn camera. Per APD protocol, the officers have been placed on administrative leave. One of the officers involved was in a training capacity, having recently graduated from the APD Training Academy in January, 2022. The second officer involved is a field-training officer who has four years of service with the Department. APD will conduct two concurrent investigations into this incident: a criminal investigation by the APD Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, and an administrative investigation conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit, with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 512-472-8477 (TIPS),or use the Crime Stoppers app. You may remain anonymous.