AUSTIN, TX – A male suspect has been arrested in Texas following a series of shootings believed to have killed six people and wounded three, including two law enforcement officers. The crime spree spread across two counties on Tuesday, according to authorities.
The suspect now faces a capital murder charge. Additional charges are expected to follow, as stated by Austin’s interim Police Chief, Robin Henderson, during a news conference on Tuesday evening. Information regarding the suspect and his potential motive remains undisclosed.
According to Henderson, the events unfolded with the injury of an Austin Independent School District Police officer in a shooting incident on Bachman Drive at approximately 10:45 a.m. Subsequent 911 calls around an hour later reported a double homicide on Shady Wood Drive, where both a male and female victim were discovered deceased.
Later in the evening, Austin Police officers attended a shooting on West Slaughter Lane where a male cyclist, suffering non-life-threatening injuries, had been shot.
In another dramatic episode around 6:45 p.m., an Austin Police officer arrived at a reported burglary on Austral Loop. On the property, an armed encounter with the suspect resulted in the officer being shot multiple times. Despite sustaining injuries, the officer managed to return fire and retreat to a place of cover, with his injuries being determined non-life-threatening.
The suspect eluded the shots and escaped the crime scene in a vehicle. He was apprehended shortly after following a vehicle crash during a chase by other officers, Henderson stated.
A subsequent search of the location of the reported burglary shockingly discovered two further deceased victims. Suspicions that the shooter had ties to a residence in Bexar County led authorities to alert Bexar County officials.
As shared by Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, two additional victims, described as middle-aged, were found murdered in an apparently horrifying double homicide at the mentioned residence. Salazar indicated that these murders likely occurred before the shootings in Austin, however, the relationship between the suspect and these victims remains unclear.