AUSTIN — An Austin police officer was shot and wounded late Sunday morning near the intersection of West 6th Street and West Avenue in downtown Austin.
According to Austin police Chief Art Acevedo, a security guard at an apartment complex in the 800 block of West 5th Street saw a man acting suspiciously and thought he was breaking into cars in the area. The security guard made contact with the man, who then started to run from the scene.
Acevedo said the security guard began chasing the suspected burglar and yelled for someone to call 911. An Austin police officer who was patrolling in the area arrived at the scene and called for help.
The suspected burglar ran into the parking lot of Frank & Angie's Pizzeria when the security guard knocked him down twice. The officer came up on the suspected burglar and began trying restrain him with handcuffs.
According to Acevedo, the officer called for units to get to the scene quickly and asked the security guard to help subdue the suspect. At this point, the chief said the suspect turned without warning and brandished a gun.
The security guard yelled "gun!" and the suspect fired one shot that hit the officer in the lower right abdomen below his bulletproof vest. The officer immediately fired back, shooting and killing the suspect at the scene.
Acevedo said the officer, a nine-year veteran of the force, was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge where surgeons removed the bullet from his body. The wounded officer was said to be awake and alert and in good spirits.
Chief Acevedo said the shooter was a white male who appeared to be in his 30s, but offered no further information. The entire incident was captured on audio and video from the officer’s dashboard camera. There was also video from the apartment complex showing the suspect allegedly burglarizing cars.
Austin police said it would release the officer’s name on Monday, along with any other information about the incident.
Acevedo said he wants to release the dashcam video as soon as possible to illustrate how quickly officers must react when dealing with a combative suspect. He said the incident reminded him of the murder of Officer Jaime Padron in 2012. Padron was slain while struggling with a suspect.
