Travis County DA Discussing Whether Or Not To Refer Recent Officer-Involved Shooting To Grand Jury

AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County Office of the District Attorney on Wednesday was due to discuss whether two officers involved in a shooting of a resident after a recent standoff would be subject to a grand jury hearing—this in light of new protocol that makes such cases no longer automatically eligible for such scrutiny.

Nancy Williams, a spokeswoman for the DA's office, told Patch in a telephone interview that the case would be part of an internal discussion on Wednesday morning. She said she would provide an update later Wednesday related to a decision.

On April 7, police responded to the 6300 block of Parliament Drive following a disturbance call. As SWAT teams made the scene in attempts to coax Lawrence Parrish, 31, out of the home, he emerged from the structure wielding a rifle, according to police, before re-entering the home.

Parrish later exited the dwelling for a third time when he was shot by police. In initial police reports, Parrish was said to have fired at officers first—an assertion later retracted by Police Chief Brian Manley in subsequent press conference. While he maintained Parrish still had the weapon on him at the time, Manley said the man had not fired the weapon before being shot.

Related stories:

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Man Shot After Firing At Police In East Austin

Officer-Involved Shootings Case Won't Automatically Go To Grand Juries Anymore: Travis County DA

"We're at the stage of the investigation now where that we believe that although Mr. Parrish did raise the weapon and aim it at our officers, he did not, in fact, fire at our officers," Manley said. "But as he raised the weapon and aimed it at our officers, our officers fired at him in fear for their safety and Mr. Parrish went down as we described that night."

Manley noted the man appeared to be under the influence of "some type of alcohol or drug" before being shot in the doorway of the home. Parrish was subsequently taken to the hospital for treatment of his injuries before being booked into jail.

Police charged Parrish with aggravated assault against a public servant. After his release from University Medical Center Brackenridge on the Sunday following the incident, Parrish was booked into the Travis County Jail with bail set at $500,000.

"Perceptions are sometimes not 100 percent accurate," Manley said in explaining how officers came to fire upon Parrish without having first heard a shot fired.

Just days after the shooting on April 13, Travis County DA Margaret Moore announced a change to protocol in the way officer-involved shootings are handled. She said such incidents would no longer be automatically referred to a grand jury for scrutiny but left at her office's discretion as to whether such a step is taken.

During his press conference correcting initial accounts of the interaction, Manley noted no video surveillance exists of the incident as patrol cars were parked in a manner where dashcam cameras were not trained at the scene of action. Parrish was said to have pointed the weapon in the direction of the officers before being shot, but no videotaped evidence exists, just audio.

The Parrish case is, presumably, the first case prior to the DA's announcement eligible for the new treatment. Patch will update this story once more information from the DA's office is provided.

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