TEXAS — (Austin Police Department / News Release) — The Austin Police Department continues to investigate the Officer Involved Shooting that occurred during the early morning hours on Tuesday, January 5, 2021. APD is requesting the public’s assistance and is seeking any cell phone or surveillance footage that captures any part of this incident.
On January 5, 2021, at approximately 12:34 a.m., we received a 911 call from an off-duty APD officer who stated he was involved in a shooting incident that occurred. According to the off-duty officer, he was driving in a neighborhood and when he turned southbound onto the 2500 block of Wickersham Lane, he noticed there was a car behind him. This car cut the officer off and once it pulled up along side his vehicle, the officer saw the driver point a gun at him. The officer fired at the suspect, and the vehicle continued to travel a short distance southbound on Wickersham Lane where it finally stopped against the curb. The officer stopped behind the suspect’s vehicle and called 911 to advise of the situation.
At 12:37 a.m., on-duty APD officers began to arrive on scene. This portion of the incident was captured on body worn camera. The footage shows the suspect vehicle stopped along the curb with the off-duty officer’s personal vehicle behind the suspect vehicle. A female subject can be seen lying on the ground just outside of the passenger side of the vehicle. The off-duty officer gave commands to the driver and as backup approached they continued giving commands to the driver who was now outside of his vehicle on the driver’s side.
Despite commands being continually given, the driver walked around the rear of the vehicle towards the passenger’s side of the vehicle. The driver opened what appears to be the back-passenger door of the vehicle. As the driver reached into the vehicle, the on-duty officer fires at the driver which causes him to go down. The driver was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The female that was in the passenger seat of the vehicle was injured from gun fire. She was transported to the hospital and is reported to be in stable condition at the time of this release. An infant child was also discovered inside the vehicle. The child was not injured but was transported to the hospital with APD Victim Services as a precautionary measure. Investigators located a firearm at the scene of this incident.
As normal, both officers will be placed on paid Administrative Leave. The off-duty officer has been with the department for 5 years and the on-duty officer has been with APD for 2 years.
APD will conduct two concurrent investigations into this incident; one is a criminal investigation by APD’s Special Investigation Unit in conjunction with the District Attorney’s Office, and the other is an administrative investigation that will be conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.
