Austin sees 2 homicides, deadly officer-involved shooting in less than 48 hours
AUSTIN, Texas - It was a violent and deadly weekend in Austin. In less than 48 hours, the city saw two homicides and a deadly officer-involved shooting.
The officer-involved shooting in Northwest Austin followed several 911 calls that began shortly before midnight on Friday, April 27. Neighbors reported noise and loud music, then gunfire, at the Summer Grove Apartments on San Felipe Blvd. near McNeil Drive and US 183.
"Another caller reported seeing a white male wearing black clothing walking around with a black AR," said Austin Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson. "And that a subject had four to five Hispanic males at gunpoint."
Police arrived to find cars and people fleeing the scene. Then they saw the suspect, who stepped into a breezeway holding a gun.
"Officers announced to the suspect, 'Austin police, show me your hands' and repeated the command, 'show me your hands' in Spanish," said Henderson.
The man instead raised the gun towards officers, who shot him. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital. The SWAT team was called in to make sure there were no other suspects in the apartment.
Just hours later, around 6:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 27, police were called to the Quincy Apartments on Red River Street near Rainey Street, for a deadly shooting.
"There were multiple gunshots heard, and a victim had been located," said Austin Police Sgt. Destiny Silva.
The man was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was identified by police as 24-year-old Alan Picazzo.
"We do have the details of the exact location where the victim was located. However, we're not going to release those details at this time to protect the integrity of the case," said Silva.
On Sunday, April 28, police were called to another deadly shooting in North Austin. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., police responded to Rutland Drive near Metric Blvd. and Rundberg Lane. They found a man in his 30s who had been shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"This does appear to be an isolated incident with no known threat to the public," said Austin Police Officer Leah Ratliff.
He was later identified by police as 39-year-old Lowen Alberto Ordonez Lobo.
Sunday night's shooting marks Austin's 18th homicide of 2024. That's actually down from 26 by this time last year, a 31% decrease.
If you have any information on this weekend's deadly shootings, call the Austin Police Homicide Tip Line at (512) 974-TIPS or Crime Stoppers at (512) 472-TIPS.