Officer-Involved Shooting After Attempted Burglary

The officer-involved shooting Sunday (April 3) morning in a parking lot Downtown took place after a security guard at the Austin City Lofts condominiums on West Fifth Street saw on a security camera that a man was breaking into cars in the complex's parking garage.

One Austin Police Department officer was wounded and the suspect is dead. The suspect, identified only as a white male, was shot in the Frank & Angie’s Pizzeria parking lot at 508 West Avenue after a foot pursuit and scuffle with the security guard and a responding officer. Police Chief Art Acevedo said during a press briefing at 2pm that police have not yet been able to identify the man.

The officer, a nine-year veteran who won’t be publicly identified until an update is provided on Monday, is currently in stable condition at Brackenridge Hospital. He was shot once in the right abdomen, just below his bulletproof vest.

The incident began shortly after 11am when the security guard, who wasn’t named but was identified by Acevedo as a 23-year-old man, attempted to confront the suspect just west of the complex’s main entrance. The suspect broke eastbound, then took a left on West Avenue, where the security guard was joined in pursuit by a responding officer. The officer called for backup as the suspect reached the parking lot. There, the security guard knocked the suspect over – then did so again when the suspect managed to get back to his feet.

The rest of the incident, Acevedo noted, was captured by a patrol car’s dashboard camera.

One of the responding officers was able to grab hold of the suspect; the two wrestled to the ground. Acevedo made note of the officer’s demanding that the suspect show his hands. The suspect was “not compliant,” however, and the cop called for more backup. Moments after that, the suspect pulled a semi-automatic pistol out of his pants and fired one shot at the officer.

The officer fired a return shot, hitting the suspect. While he was on the ground, an assisting officer was able to take away his gun. Acevedo said that the suspect was declared dead by an ATCEMS medic just moments after taking the bullet.

Acevedo said during his press briefing Sunday that the officer is currently “conscious, alert, and in good spirits, but shaken up” at Brackenridge Hospital with his family and friends. Acevedo said that he has already had the bullet removed from his abdomen, though he’ll spend the night in the hospital. The officer will now go on paid administrative leave while Internal Affairs conducts its investigation into the incident. The officer will also have his case presented to a Travis County grand jury at some point – though it will likely take a year for that to happen – to determine if he committed any criminal violations during the incident.

Initial impressions are that the officer won’t face any repercussions. Acevedo said toward the end of his briefing that he was “really looking forward to the day that we can release this [incident’s] video,” as he said it provided a prime example of why it’s so important for officers to have detainees show their hands upon request, at one point referencing the tragic April 2012 death of APD Officer Jaime Padron, who was shot and killed by Brandon Daniel during a similar type of confrontation.

“There is a reason, in most cases, that they’re not showing their hands," said Acevedo. "This case illustrates exactly why officers are so quick to try to get those hands where they can see them. When somebody doesn’t want to show their hands, usually they’re hiding or going for one of three things: guns, knives, [or] other weapons.”