AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- Authorities are investigating after an Austin Police officer and at least one other person were shot during an early morning incident near Zilker Park Wednesday morning.
APD Chief Lisa Davis said the incident happened in the 700 block of Azie Morton Road around 4 a.m. Wednesday, when an officer was on patrol and found a vehicle that had been reported stolen.
As he was waiting on a tow truck to remove the vehicle, a man and a woman, both in their 20s to 30s, walked out from behind a nearby line of trees.
The officer gave them verbal commands for the pair to come towards him, Davis said. The man was walking behind the woman; once they were within about six feet of the officer, he ordered the man to show his hands.
“At that point, the male suspect brought up his gun, fired and struck the female in the back of the head,” Davis said. “He continued to fire striking our officer. At that point, our officer was able to pull his weapon and return fire.”
The man fled the scene on foot. Other officers arrived on the scene; one took the injured officer to Dell Seton Medical Center, while others stayed with the woman until Austin-Travis County EMS arrived.
Davis said the officer is said to be in stable condition. The woman's exact condition wasn't known, but Davis said the prognosis wasn't looking good.
“I don’t think it is looking positive for her, but she hasn’t been pronounced yet,” Davis said.
Police surged resources into the surrounding neighborhood in an effort to find the remaining suspect. An Austin ISD police officer reported a suspicious person matching the suspect's description in the area; he then fled into the Barton Hills community.
There, the suspect is said to have forced his way into a home. That homeowner shot the suspect in the arm and in the leg. APD says the suspect is in stable condition.
Shelter-in-place orders were issued using the WarnCentralTexas.org alerting system, though there was some confusion around 6:30 a.m. when Davis said the alert was changed to an "avoid the area" message.
“Originally, when SWAT arrived, we put a shelter in place … was in effect, I believe, for about 50 minutes, and then it was changed from shelter in place to avoid the area,” she said. “I have serious concerns about why that happened. I will get to the bottom of why that happened and ensure that there’s processes in place to ensure that it does not happen again.”
The shelter-in-place order was finally lifted just before 9 a.m.
Davis said the department will hold a critical incident briefing on Friday, where we are expecting to see the officer's body-worn camera footage and other materials from the incident.