AUSTIN, Texas — On Wednesday, Austin police released bodycam video of a deadly shooting during a SWAT standoff in May.
Alfonso Gonzales, 35, died after being shot by police during the standoff at a gas station in southeast Austin on May 21. According to police, the entire incident started after police spotted a stolen vehicle near the intersection of Salt Springs Drive and Thaxton Road.
Police said Officer Ryan Nichols, who has been with the department for 16 years, remains on administrative leave after shooting Gonzales.
What happened?
Police said Gonzales was armed when he walked into the Texaco on Salt Springs Drive, refusing to leave or drop his weapon, which led to SWAT being called out.
Officers spotted Gonzales pacing inside the business with a gun while pouring lighter fluid on the counter. During that time, a gas station employee was locked inside an office while a cook escaped the building.
Saxx Williams, who owns Saxx's Tacos inside the gas station, told KVUE he heard gunshots while he was cooking. Williams said Gonzales allowed him to leave, but that the store manager was still inside.
"I didn't know what was going on ... I heard the gun shots, and I came around the corner and he put me at gunpoint, told me to leave. But in his eyes, he looked scared. He looked like he was in pain. But he didn't come across me as evil," Williams said.
Williams added, “What [Gonzales] did was completely unacceptable, period. There is no excuse for that. That is not the claim that I want to make, and that's not the hill I'm willing to die on. What I'm saying is, I think that it probably could end without the loss of life.”
Williams said he thinks about the ordeal all the time but is focused on moving forward. He lost everything in the standoff and had to start fresh. However, he said he wouldn't have been able to do so without the help of the community.
"We had to strip the entire store, bringing all new product on and everything, including everything in my kitchen, including everything in my walk-in. It was a full shutdown," Williams said.
A GoFundMe was started, allowing the business owner to get his restaurant back up and running, which it has been for the last few days.
Williams only hopes the ordeal doesn't taint the business.
"It's not a dangerous community – that just happened to be a bad situation … Try to bring people back in. You know, so I'm just going to do what I can do," Williams said.
Although the restaurant is fully operational, there is still a long way to go. Williams said he plans to host a special crawfish boil event on Sunday to help support the business and bring the community together. The event will be from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the gas station.
Police said Gonzales continued to ignore officers despite knowing there was an employee trapped inside. Officers attempted to use pepper spray projectiles to lure Gonzales out, but he remained inside the gas station. Later, police said Gonzales shot at officers and started pouring lighter fluid into a container with a rag to create a Molotov cocktail.
According to police, officers realized if Gonzales used the Molotov cocktail that it could kill or injure the employee trapped inside the store. That's when Nichols shot Gonzales with an approved firearm. Gonzales was taken to the hospital where he later died.
Police said no one else was hurt in the incident.