5 Austin Cops Who Killed Pick Ax-Wielding Man Cleared

AUSTIN, TX — Five officers who killed a man armed with a pick ax have been cleared by the Travis County district attorney's office which determined the lethal force was justified, officials said Tuesday.

The incident dates to March 7, 2018, when officers went to 4800 Tanney St. where a man who called police said he had killed his brother and father. When police arrived, they found the suspect, Victor Ancira, sitting in the middle of the street on a folding chair. According to the DA's findings, Ancira ignored officers' commands to drop the pick ax, instead pacing back and forth with the implement in his hand.

According to police, they fired beanbags and tasers at the Ancira in attempts to neutralize him with non-lethal means. But Ancira was able to block the projectiles with the folding chair, according to the DA.

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The encounter escalated when Ancira is said to have raised the pick ax over his head while lunging at the officers from about ten feet away. This prompted five officers at the scene — William Johns (badge #7217), Timothy Skeen (#8437), Michael Rowland (#8223), Bryan McCulloch (#8124) and Gavin Smart (#8674) to open fire. Ancira fell to the ground, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Three other officers — Jason Meurer (#8572), Bradley Hoover (8211) and Michael Rauert (4678) — concurrently were cleared for their use of non-lethal force, the DA's office noted. The dead man's father and brother he claimed to have killed were later found inside the home unharmed, officials noted.

"My heart goes out —the department's heart, the city's heart goes out — to this family," Police Chief Brian Manley said — referring to the dead man's grief-stricken loved ones who had gathered at the scene — in an impromptu press conference at the time. "But when we respond to an incident like this, and not knowing what had happened in that house ... there was a need to get in and make sure that there had not been anyone harmed."

The police killing was the second time a suspect was shot dead by multiple officers in as many months after an incident in South Austin during which seven police officers opened fire on a suspect as he tried ramming the gates of an apartment complex at the 4900 block of Edge Creek Drive in an attempt to gain entry. In that Feb. 19 incident, the man supposedly put a gun to his head after police pursued him following a domestic disturbance. Manley claims the man not only ignored claims to drop the weapon but pointed it at them, prompting seven of the officers at the scene to fire at him in a hail of bullets. Pronounced dead at the scene was Thomas Vincent Alvarez.

Ironically, both police shootings came in the wake of an ambitious new, Manley-led initiative intended to deescalate confrontations with suspects in an attempt to resolve issues without lethal means. The APD's new policy came by virtue of a revamped edition of the Austin Police Department General Orders, containing new requirements for officers to compel them to first attempt to tamp down volatile situations before using their police-issued weapons — guns, batons, Tasers and the like. It's a lengthy document of 755 pages.

Yet in both of the most recent officer-involved shootings, suspects have been killed after mere minutes such tactics have been used. And in both recent cases, it's been multiple officers taking the lethal step — not just one officer delivering the fatal blow to an uncooperative suspect. It's unclear where on his body Ancira was shot, but the manner of his death suggests the bullets were aimed to areas ensuring a kill rather than the knees or other parts of the body that would ensure such called-for, non-lethal take-down means.

The exoneration of the five officers on Tuesday comes a week after the county district attorney cleared another police officer involved in the shooting death of a woman who is said to have approached a pair of officers while holding a knife during a disturbance call last year. The DA said one week ago Thomas Brown, the officer who shot Leslie Salazar, was justified in his use of force. Brown fired three shots, all striking Salazar as she fell to the floor. The woman finally released the knife still in her hand after being wounded, and was pronounced dead at 3 a.m., according to an investigation.