Threatening Move Caused Police Shooting

The incident happened in front of a home on Long Winter Drive in northesat Austin. Sean Lamphere who lives a few doors down told FOX 7 around 11:00 a.m. he was in his backyard and his wife was in the kitchen when they heard a man and woman shouting.

"She sounded like she was distressed,” said Lamphere.

The situation escalated after police arrived and Lamphere said his wife heard another shout.

"The man, according to her, yelled I'm gonna shoot myself and then shortly after that there were three shots fired in quick succession. It was very syncopated boom, boom ... boom, basically,” said Lamphere

Officials say the man who was shot had become distraught after arguing with his girlfriend. His mother called police saying he was suicidal and armed with a gun. Investigators say the man moved in and out of the house after police arrived with a final confrontation in the driveway.

"They were giving him verbal commands, he did not comply with those verbal commands. The mother at this point was reportedly out in the driveway while all of this was taking place and at one point the subject turned around towards the direction of the mother and began heading in that direction, according to the accounts we have so far. At this point our officer feared that he was about to force their hand by taking an aggressive action against the mother so,  he fired in defense of the mother that was in the driveway at that point,” said Interim Chief Brian Manley.

Access to the area was closed off as crime scene technicians collected evidence and detectives spoke with witnesses as well as family members.

"I know that we had multiple officers that formed up and made an approach team, what we call a react team and I'm not sure if there was an officer with a less lethal in their possession at that time or not. I know that our officer that did fire fired a patrol rifle that's the weapon that was used,” said Manley.

The man died from his gunshot wounds at the hospital. The officer who fired the fatal shots is a 17 year veteran of the police force. There is no dash cam video of the shooting because police units were parked away from the house at the time.

Travis County D.A. Margaret Moore was also at the scene. She arrived along with members of our newly formed civil rights division. The unit was created solely to look into officer involved shootings. Moore will decide whether or not the case will be submitted to a special Grand Jury for review.