Suspect In South Austin 'Suicide By Cop' Killing Identified [UPDATED]

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- Police have identified the man who was shot and killed by in what they termed a "suicide by cop" incident last Friday.

The Austin Police Department identified the man killed as Tyler Hunkin, 29. They also identified the officer who fatally shot at the suspect as Matthew Paredes, who has been on the force for 4 1/2 years.

Hunkin was killed in a Randall's store parking lot in southeast Austin when police say he charged at a responding officer while wielding two knives. Paredes was the first officer to respond to the scene after calls came into police headquarters alerting them to the suspect.

In a late-night press conference near the shooting site, Acevedo theorized the shooting was likely a suicide-by-cop scenario, when a suspect intentionally acts aggressively to force the police to kill him. He noted that surveillance footage exists of the entire encounter, but that hasn't been released yet.

The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave per police protocol every time there is an officer-involved shooting in Austin -- which is becoming something of a regular occurrence. So far this year, there have been five officer-involved shootings, three of them resulting in the death of a suspect.

Two of those police killings involved knife-wielding suspects who were fatally wounded by police.

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From April 22:

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX -- A Friday night officer-involved shooting outside a Randall's store at MoPac and William Cannon in South Austin has left a knife-wielding suspect dead, according to media reports.

The Austin Police Department chief has categorized the incident as a suicide-by-cop episode.

The shooting episode occurred just after 10 p.m. on April 22 in the 6600 block of MoPac. Police got a call about a man holding knives in his his hand, Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said in a press conference.

Shortly after getting the emergency call, Acevedo said an officer on the scene sent a message through his radio: "Suspect down; shots fired."

Minutes after arriving, the first officer responding to the call came across the suspect, the chief said.

"The officers sees this suspect with the knives in his hand," Acevedo said. "He puts out again to the units 'step it up,' which means respond with lights and sirens."

The chief said the police officer gave the man numerous commands to comply, which went unheeded.

"The officer then exited his vehicle with his long rifle. The suspect then suddenly without warning ran full speed at our officer."

The officer then shot off a round, fatally wounding the suspect.

The identity of the dead man wasn't disclosed, but Acevedo described him as a 29-year-old white male.

The officer involved is a four-and-a-half veteran of the force. He was unharmed, but the chief said he was very shaken up by the violent encounter.

"This is something our officer is going to have to live with for the rest of his life," Acevedo said. "Again, I think when everything's said and done, this is going to be a suicide by cop."

This is the third officer-involved shooting this month. On April 3, an Austin police officer shot and killed a car robbery suspect in downtown Austin after the man shot the officer. The policeman was hurt in the encounter, but his life was saved thanks to his bulletproof vest.

On April 14, an officer was shot in the knee during a SWAT raid at a home. An 18-year-old suspect was consequently placed under arrest in the shooting.

And on February 4, another officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen in North Austin. Officer Geoffrey Freeman fired twice on David Joseph, 17, who was found wandering naked after police received calls from residents reporting he had been acting erratically.

Watch the full, post-shooting press conference on Friday night's shooting below: