An Austin Police Department sniper shot and killed a man who went on a rampage and opened fire at a police helicopter over the weekend.
Police received multiple calls around 10:30 p.m. Saturday from the 8200 block of Pax Drive alerting them to a man walking around the neighborhood with a rifle shooting at streetlights, according to KXAN-TV.
Police Chief Art Acevedo identified the gunman as 27-year-old Sawyer Flache and said that the department's helicopter, known as Air-1, arrived over the scene at 10:52 p.m.
"A caller advised the subject was sitting in the street with a rifle in his lap," told reporters. "The caller also advised 911 dispatch that the subject was armed with multiple weapons."
Officials said that Flache fired at officers on the ground and in the chopper. SWAT team members responded to the scene at 11:37 p.m.
Flache fired at the chopper again around 11:53 p.m., and at 12:09 a.m., a police sniper, identified as Senior Police Officer Luke Serrato, saw Flache aim at the police chopper again. Serrato fired one shot at Flache, killing him.
"It's hard to understand what's going through people's minds when they start shooting helicopters and shooting heavily populated neighborhoods," Acevedo said.
The helicopter pilot and tactical officer on-board Air-1 were uninjured, but several shots hit the chopper's rotor blades.
