Austin police shoot man in reported disturbance
Officers: Armed man wounded at apartment complex
An Austin police officer shot an armed man at an apartment complex near the Barton Creek Mall early Saturday morning after a physical disturbance was reported just before 2 a.m.
Two officers arrived at the Cliffs at Barton Creek Apartments, located the unit where the disturbance was happening, knocked on the front door and announced themselves, interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said at a new conference Saturday. A third officer who approached the back of the apartment saw through a sliding glass door that two men were involved in a disturbance when one of them, armed with a handgun, walked to the front door where the officers had just knocked.
“Recognizing the potential threat to their safety and the safety of others, the officer at the rear patio immediately yelled the warning of ‘gun, gun, gun,' and the officer discharged his approved firearm and struck the male suspect,” Henderson said. “The second male suspect that was involved in the disturbance then opened the apartment door and was removed from the apartment.”
Officers entered the apartment, took the injured man into custody and began rendering first aid, Henderson said. About 2:30 a.m., the injured man was taken to a hospital with non-lifethreatening injuries. The second man was not injured in the shooting.
Henderson said the shooting was captured in police body-worn cameras and the footage will be released in 10 days, as per department policy.
The officer who shot the man has worked for Austin police for seven months and will be placed on administrative duty while two concurrent investigations take place — a criminal probe by the Austin police Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County district attorney's office, and an administrative investigation by Internal Affairs with oversight by the Office of Police Oversight, Henderson said.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Special Investigations Unit at 512-974-6840 or Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-4728477.