Woman Dead, Man Critically Injured In Officer-Involved Shooting in Del Valle [UPDATED]

UPDATE: The Travis County Sheriff's Office on Thursday identified the victim killed by an acquaintance on Thursday after being kidnapped by a male acquaintance. Her name was Ibeth Aurora Lopez, 28, of Elgin, Texas. For the full story, see below.

From Feb. 15:

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Sheriff's Office responded Wednesday afternoon to an officer-involved shooting in Del Valle resulting from a kidnapping that left a woman dead and a man critically injured, according to media reports.

According to Travis County Sheriff's Office spokesman Kristen Dark, the incident occurred at Texas 71 and Ross Road in Del Valle when a man entered a Bastrop business called Sports Clips demanding a female acquaintance leave with him sometime around 1:30 p.m.. When she refused, the man pulled out a woman to force the woman's compliance, Dark said during a subsequent press conference.

The suspect drove off with the victim westbound on Highway 71, prompting TCSO deputies to respond as the car traveled into their jurisdiction, Dark said. The spokeswoman noted that the pursuit was made all the more chaotic given a mass walk-out by Del Valle High School students who gathered to protest anti-immigrant government policies.

At one point in his flight from police, the suspect turned off the highway into a church parking lot. A TCSO deputy who happened to be on scene to help safeguard the protesting students responded to the scene and saw the empty car with both doors open, Dark said.

Another TCSO deputy responding to the scene saw the man and woman in field behind the church parking lot, Dark said. Once confronted by deputies, the suspect shot the woman dead before shooting himself in the head, the spokeswoman said.

Dark said a TCSO deputy fired at the suspect after he shot the woman, but it's unclear if any of their bullets struck the suspect, who was transported to South Austin Medical Center in critical condition. No TCSO deputies were injured in the confrontation, Dark said.

The sheriff's spokeswoman credited the TCSO deputies who were already in the area to protect the students for their quick action in responding to the incident.

"This is what makes us proud of our deputies," Dark said. "They were out here to protect a bunch of students who were protesting, and this situation fell in their laps. They were observant, they didn't have any details about what kind of vehicle it was and those deputies saw something that wasn't quite right and took the time to turn around and look again, and my hat's off to them."

The names of the victim and suspect, both believed to be in their 30s, were not released pending the outcome of the investigation. Given the complexity of the case, Dark said TCSO officials were expected to be at the crime scene for several hours. Patch will update this story with more details as they become available.

Del Valle is located 14 miles southeast of Austin.