AUSTIN, Texas — Editor’s note: We have removed the victim’s name from this web story as he is not facing charges at the moment.
A man shot by Austin police on Thursday, Aug. 19, has been identified.
The incident took place near US 183 and East Riverside Drive, near the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Police said the call originally came in around 4:35 p.m. "regarding a man on [the] highway."
In a press conference on Thursday evening, Austin PD Chief of Staff Troy Gay said officers were en route to the scene at approximately 4:30 p.m. and were told a person was walking on the road. Gay said the first officer stopped traffic at 4:37 p.m. and the man seemed aggravated and remained in the middle of the road. Gay said the officer communicated on radio at 4:39 p.m. that he appeared to have a knife.
By 4:40 p.m., three APD officers had responded to the scene. Gay said the man "aggressively started approaching one of the officers," and one of the officers told him to drop the knife. The man continued to approach the officers with a knife in his hand and as many as two to five shots were fired by two officers, Gay said. Police said he was struck at least once.
After telling the man to drop the knife for two to three more minutes and he refused, officers then used a Taser on him.
He was transported to the hospital in stable condition, according to Gay.
Police said the officers on the scene were not injured.
The man is not currently charged with a crime and it is unknown if future charges are pending.
The incident was fully captured on body cams from the second and third officers. The first officer on scene was wearing plain clothes with a badge, Gay said. Gay said that the body camera footage will "hopefully be released" within 10 days under a new policy implemented by interim police chief Joseph Chacon.
Per policy, the two officers who fired have been placed on administrative leave. They have 11 years of service with the department, the Austin Police Department said. The officer who used the Taser has 17 years of service with the department.
The investigation includes a criminal investigation by the APD Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, as well as an administrative investigation conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.
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