Cop Fatally Shoots Knife-Wielding Woman In South Austin (Updated)

SOUTHEAST AUSTIN, TX — A 20-year-old Hispanic woman clutching a knife was shot and killed by police in South Austin early Thursday morning in what is at least the fifth officer-involved shooting this year.

Police said they were called to the 7300 block of South Glenn Street just before 2:30 a.m. A woman told the dispatcher the suspect was trying to enter her home when the line was disconnected. Minutes later, the same person called to say she was now outside her home being chased by the suspect who police say was armed with a knife, Interim Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters in a subsequent briefing.

The woman told police the suspect seemed intoxicated, and resisted efforts by other to be restrained, according to the police account.

Arriving police ordered the Hispanic teenager to put the knife down, but she did not comply, Manley said. At that, a police officer shot the woman, who police were unable to revive after life-saving measures were reportedly implemented, according to Manley's account.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and the officer involved in the shooting has been placed on administrative leave — standard protocol whenever there is an officer-involved shooting. Manley said the officer who fired the service weapon has been on the local force for two years.

The suspect has yet to be identified. Manley said bodycam video of the encounter exists and will be reviewed as part of the investigation. Police originally said the woman was 18, later issuing a correction to place her age at 20.

"We will not be releasing the identity of the deceased for this morning’s officer involved shooting until tomorrow," Austin Police Department spokeswoman Anna Sabana wrote in an email sent Thursday evening, "but we did want to provide her correct age. She was 20 years old."

By Patch's count, this is at least the fifth officer-involved in Austin this year, some resulting in suspects' deaths. Most of those incidents come after Manley directed changes to the Austin Police Department General Orders meant to compel his officers to resort to lethal means against suspects as a last resort when other means have been exhausted. But even after the 755-manual was altered, there have been subsequent police shootings, sometimes taking place minutes upon encounters with suspects.

This year alone, five suspects have been shot by police — four of them fatally wounded — before Thursday's incident:

• On March 7, five officers opened fire on a 46-year-old man who didn't comply with orders to drop the pickax he was wielding along the 4800 block of Tanney Street at around 4:30 a.m. The man reportedly had called police to he had killed his father and brother, but they were later found unharmed. In that case, non-lethal means were reportedly used before police opened fire on the man, killing him on the spot.
• Also in March, a 23-year-old man as shot by police along the 6200 block of La Naranja Lane, not far from MoPac Expressway and Davis Lane. The incident at around 12:30 a.m. came amid reports the man had acted in a threatening manner against his father, police later explained. The man was left seriously injured after the shooting.
• In February, seven police officers opened fire on a suspect as he tried ramming the gates of an apartment complex along the 4900 block of Edge Creek Drive in South Austin. At a subsequent press briefing, Manley said the man in the Feb. 19 incident had first put a gun to his head after police pursued him following a domestic disturbance. The interim chief added that 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.
• On Jan. 26, a suspected burglar was shot dead after allegedly entering a home along the 4500 block of Avenue G in North Austin. Austin police said the suspect shot at them, forcing them to return fire. The suspect, Christopher Eric Giles, 23, of Albuquerque, N.M., was declared dead at the scene.

There were several police shootings in 2017 also:

• Lawrence Parrish, 31, was hospitalized in April 2017 after police said he fired at them, prompting them to return fire in an East Austin incident along the 6300 block of Parliament Drive. Manley later said at a press briefing that the man appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs before being shot.
• The previous month, in May 2017, police fatally shot a 20-year-old reportedly suicidal after an argument with his girlfriend. During the Notth Austin incident along the 11300 block of Long Winter Dr., the Austin police chief said, the suspect had a gun and was "...waving it around in an erratic fashion." The suspect's own Spanish-speaking mother had called 911 out of concern for her suicidal son who later died at the hands of police. The young man was shot as he moved toward his mom in front of the family home. "He fired in defense of the mother's life," Manley explained in justifying the officer who fired at him with a patrol rifle, although he acknowledged it was unclear if the weapon was pointed at the mother.
• In December 2017, Austin police shot and inured a man suspected of stabbing another man in Northwest Austin in the second officer-involved shooting within three days that month. Police responded to the 4000 block of Greenhill Place — west of MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) and south of U.S. 183 — where they encountered a man holding a knife. "Our officer … is heard yelling multiple times to drop it, drop it, put it down, giving multiple commands," Manley told reporters at a subsequent press briefing. "The suspect again does not listen and continues to advance toward our officer, at which point our officer fires his weapon at the suspect."
• That same month, an Austin police officer shot and critically injured a man authorities said had fatally stabbed a woman at a Central Austin apartment complex. The incident at the 5000 block of Lynnwood Street culminated in the suspect being shot by an officer after exhibiting "aggressive acts" while still holding the knife, Manley said at the time.

At times, it's been young people caught in the cross hairs as was the case Thursday morning:

In January 2016, a 19-year-old with a machete was shot in the abdomen by police in South Austin. Former APD Chief Art Acevedo said the teen had provoked officers to shoot him, perhaps in a suicide-by-cop scenario.

The following month David Joseph, 17, was shot dead by an officer as the teen ran along the street with no clothes on. Even police officials later acknowledged Joseph was in the throes of mental distress when he was shot by former officer Geoffrey Freeman, who was ultimately fired from the force. Freeman had argued he feared for his life when he opened fire on the teenager. The City of Austin ultimately approved a $3.25 million settlement — the biggest in city history — awarded to his family members in order to end litigation.

To see the city's log of officer-involved shootings from 2007-16, click here. To read the newly revised Austin Police Department General Orders calling for a new focus on deescalating police interactions with suspects, click here.

Related stories:

Pickax-Wielding Man Shot Dead By Police In East Austin

Austin Cop-Involved Shooting Came Weeks After Deescalation Call

Officer-Involved Shooting Reported In South Austin

Machete-Wielding Teenager Shot By Police In South Austin

City Of Austin Approves $3.25 Million Settlement To Family Of Teen Killed By Police

Condemnation After Police Killing Of Unarmed 17-Year-Old Is Swift, Resolute In Calls For Justice

Family Of Slain Teen Killed By Austin Policeman Close To Finalizing Minimum $2M Settlement

Austin's Top Cop Disciplined For 'Insubordination'

>>> Image via Shutterstock