APD Officer Robert Pfaff will not face charges for May shooting

On Tuesday, a Travis County Grand Jury decided Austin Police Department Officer Robert Pfaff would not face charges for the May 25, 2015 shooting death of Cassandra Bolin.

The Grand Jury spent almost seven hours reviewing evidence and hearing testimony from seven witnesses.

According to reports, on May 25, 2015 Officer Robert Pfaff, a SWAT Team member, shot Bolin three times after Bolin pointed a gun at herself and then police.

Authorities said on the morning of May 25, police responded to Bolin’s apartment near Lamar and Brentwood after her boyfriend, Jacob Johnson, called 911 to do a welfare check after Johnson said he received alarming text messages from Bolin.

According to police, when officers made contact with Bolin she refused to come out of her apartment and threatened to shoot the officers and herself. 

Authorities said they attempted to talk down Bolin for hours, asking her to disarm herself and surrender peacefully, but she refused. Bolin, on several occasions, walked outside her door several times, at times with a handgun, and yelled at officers while threatening to shoot police and herself and even asked police to shoot her.

Police said the SWAT Team fired a beanbag-type projectile at Bolin but it did not work and Bolin went back into her apartment. Minutes later Bolin came back outside with a gun and pointed it at herself and then at police standing in front of her. It was at that time when Officer Pfaff shot Bolin three times, killing her.