Three dead in Austin, Texas, shooting spree,
AUSTIN, Texas – Three people were dead at the scene of a shooting Sunday in Austin, and a manhunt was underway for the killer, authorities said.
Authorities said the shooting was reported in an apartment complex. Police and SWAT teams swarmed a parking lot of a nearby shopping complex.
“Obviously this is a tragedy. We have people who have lost their lives here,” interim Police Chief Joe Chacon said. “We’ll do our best ... to get this person in custody.”
Chacon said the shooting appeared to stem from a domestic dispute. He identified the suspect as Stephen Nicholas Broderick, 41. Preliminary information indicated that Broderick knew the victims, two women and a man, and that the shooting was targeted. A child was involved, but was safe in police custody,Chacon added.
Records show Broderick, a former Travis County sheriff’s detective, was charged in June with sexual assault of a child.
Broderick, a property crimes detective, resigned after his arrest, according to Travis County sheriff ’s spokeswoman Kristen Dark. Court and public records show that Broderick’s wife filed for a protective order and divorce shortly after his arrest.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler said the shooting took place at Arboretum Oaks Apartments, which management describes on the website as a “luxury apartment community.”
The Austin-Travis County EMS, which responded to the shooting, described an an “active attack/shooter incident.” EMS said on Twitter that there were no reports of other injuries, and Chacon later said the shooting was no longer considered an active-shooter situation.
Josh Katzowitz, who had been shopping at a nearby Trader Joe’s, said police and ambulances came “pouring in” to the area as he was leaving. He didn’t hear any shooting.
“The cops had their guns out,” he said. “Some had pistols, some had rifles, and they were strapping on bulletproof vests. There were all of a sudden ambulances, sirens and police cars There were cops coming from everywhere.”
The rampage was the latest of several shooting attacks across the nation, including one earlier Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that left three people dead. Mass killings have claimed four or more American lives every week for the past six weeks, leaving dozens dead and several more people wounded in their wake.