Repairing APD headquarters from November shooting rampage will cost nearly half a million dollars

Repairing APD headquarters, which was damaged during a shooting rampage last year, will cost almost a half million dollars. While Austin looks for a contractor to make the repairs, work is already underway or is completed at other locations that were hit.

The plywood that covers the front of APD headquarters, and the tape securing cracked windows, are hard to ignore. It all caught the eye of Evangelina Castillo Thursday afternoon after she and Miguel Toc picked up an accident report.

"I was showing him the cracks on the window, and I was like I think they are bullet holes, and he said no they are not, and I said yeah I think they are," said Castillo

The damage was done in late November. The gun shots heard in this cell phone video were fired by Larry McQuilliams who was killed by an Austin police officer. It's estimated he fired 100 rounds from a high powered rifle.

"They destroyed that store front pretty good," said Ed Harris with the City of Austin Building Services Department.

According to Harris the city's insurance carrier estimates $400-thousand worth of damage was done to the building. Bids are now coming in from contractors to determine what will be replaced and what will be patched. The most expensive part of the job may be repairing bullet proof glass that was cracked and gouged.

"We put all of the bullet proof resistance stuff in right after 9/11 so it's old. That's going to have to be upgraded. But we feel the insurance company has been very fair with us, and we will be able to replace things and have things looking good with the money that's been allowed to us by the insurance company," said Harris.

The federal courthouse was also hit during the rampage and while you can still see the scars window replacement work here has already begun. McQuilliams fired shots into the west and south sides of the building. Contractors are expected to wrap up window replacement by the end of the month. A few blocks away at the Mexican Consulate, which was also targeted that night, the front entrance shows no sign of being damaged. Eventually, Harris promised, the same will be said about APD headquarters.

"Very soon, in the next couple of months, or so, it will be totally replaced and the front of the building will be looking good as new. It's just going to take us a little time."