A suspect is dead after a shooting involving police on a crowded street in downtown Austin, Texas on Saturday night which wounded three people, one critically. The Austin Police Department said the officers called to the scene discharged their weapons, and the suspected gunman was struck by the officers’ gunfire and later pronounced dead. No officers were injured
Austin Police Department Interim Chief Robin Henderson at a news briefing Sunday morning that the incident began at a downtown bar shortly before midnight on Sunday, when police received a report that someone was trying to enter the establishment with a gun, in violation of a section of the Texas Penal Code related to unlawfully carrying weapons. Henderson said that an employee at the bar identified the suspect when officers arrived at the scene, and when they approached him, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it at the responding officers as well as bystanders, at which point the three officers fired their weapons at the suspect, who was hit multiple times and later pronounced dead. Three other people were shot and wounded in the incident, all of whom were hospitalized, one with critical injuries.
The officers have been placed on administrative duty while the Austin Police Department conducts an internal administrative investigation into the shooting, as well as a criminal investigation in coordination with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. Interim Chief Henderson said that the officers have worked at the police department for nine, 11 and 13 years, and the shooting was recorded on officers’ body-worn cameras. Police ask that anyone with information about the shooting to contact the Austin Police Department’s Special Investigations Unit, or to Capitol Area Crime Stoppers.
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