Austin Police Shooting Of BB Gun-Wielding Woman Justified: DA

SOUTH AUSTIN, TX — The Travis County district attorney's office has decided the fatal police shooting of a woman holding a BB gun during a confrontation was justified, according to reports on Wednesday.

The decision means the case won't be referred to a grand jury. The incident dates to Oct. 17, 2016, when a man called police alerting of the woman's need for mental health assistance. Upon confronting the woman at an apartment complex along the 700 block of William Cannon Drive, Micah Jester, 26, "...walked at a rapid pace directly towards the officers," the DA's office explained.

Jester then pointed "...what appeared to both officers to be a handgun,” the DA’s office continued in its statement. Two officers responding to the scene fired at Jester, killing her. It was later determined the woman was armed with a benign BB gun. Two days after the shooting, police claimed the woman had yelled for them to shoot her while pointing the BB gun and disregarded their commands to drop the implement.

Family members later said the woman was the mother of two young daughters. In a grim coincidence, Jester's father had been shot by police in Florida a decade before after wielding a toy gun at police.

Below is 2016 video of the police narrative subsequent to the woman's fatal shooting:

Related story: Woman Shot Dead By Police In South Austin Was Holding BB Gun

>>> Photo of Micah Jester via GoFundMe, a Patch promotional partner