Ex-deputy sought in Austin shooting
Killing of 3 comes amid a recent spike in U.S. gun violence
AUSTIN — Three people were shot to death Sunday in an apparent domestic disturbance that rattled the capital city and a nation already on edge, coming amid a string of mass shootings across the country.
Just before 5 p.m., Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said authorities lifted a shelter-in-place warning for the city’s northwest suburbs, an area that has seen enormous growth in recent years as part of a booming tech scene. The effort, he said, had shifted to a fugitive search and he warned residents to remain vigilant.
“We do not think this individual is out there targeting random people to shoot them,” Chacon said. “That does not mean he is not dangerous. We do think that he is armed and he is very much dangerous.”
Authorities identified the suspected gunman as Stephen Broderick, 41. Chacon said Broderick was a former deputy law enforce
ment officer with the Travis County Sheriff ’s Office.
Broderick was arrested in June 2020, on a charge of sexual assault of a child, according to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
He was released from custody that month after posting $50,000 bail, the district attorney’s office said. Prosecutors have filed a motion to revoke his bail. The office said it is “actively supporting the Austin Police Department and law enforcement who are using all available resources to apprehend Mr. Broderick.”
“Our office has been clear that acts of violence committed in our community will not be tolerated,” Travis County District Attorney José Garza said on Twitter. “I am grateful to the courageous members of our law enforcement who are actively working to bring Mr. Broderick into custody.
When Mr. Broderick is apprehended, he will be held accountable.”
Chacon asked residents to call 911 if they see the alleged gunman.
The victims were two Hispanic women and a Black man who were known to Broderick, Chacon said, but he did not give details of their relationship to him or each other. He said a child also had been identified and was safely with authorities.
“Obviously, this is a tragedy,” Chacon told reporters a briefing near the site of the shootings. “We have people who have lost their lives out here. We’re going to be doing our very best to conduct the best investigation we can, and also to get this person into custody as quickly as possible.”
The killings came amid an unnerving string of deadly gun violence across the country in recent weeks. Authorities in Indianapolis still were working to piece together why a 19-year-old man stormed a FedEx facility there late Thursday, killing eight people.
Earlier this month, four people were shot to death in Allen, and 18 people were killed last month in shooting sprees at a Colorado grocery story and spas in Atlanta. On Sunday, three people were killed and two seriously wounded in a shooting at a busy tavern in southeastern Wisconsin.
Chris Combs, an FBI special agent in Austin, said the three deaths in Austin on Sunday were believed to part of a domestic dispute.
“At this time, we do not see any federal nexus to this,” he said.
Local and federal law enforcement spent much of the day searching the Great Hills Trail and Rain Creek Parkway area in northwest Austin where the killings took place.