A police officer was wounded in a shootout Monday afternoon after a man robbed an armored vehicle driver at a North Austin store, took his gun and led police on a high-speed chase to a Northeast Austin shopping center, officials said.
The suspect, who was later captured at a nearby apartment complex, escaped officers after an exchange of gunfire and then carjacked a motorist, ordering the driver to take him away from the scene, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
The officer's injuries were not life-threatening, Acevedo said, saying he did not know if the officer was struck by a bullet or shrapnel. Neither the suspect nor the carjacked driver were injured, he said.
Late into Monday evening, police were working three crimes scenes to collect evidence: the Fallas Discount Store at the Capital Plaza shopping center off Interstate 35 where the robbery took place , the wooded area behind the Springdale Shopping Center where the suspect and police exchanged gunfire, and the apartment complex where the suspect was apprehended.
Acevedo did not identify the suspect other than to say he was an adult male with a "potential criminal history." He did not identify the officer, who was wounded in the knee, but said he was in stable condition Monday evening at University Medical Center Brackenridge. He said the officer's family was immediately notified.
The series of crimes began when a man entered the Fallas store about 3:16 p.m. and confronted the driver of an armored vehicle, Acevedo said.
"He disarmed the driver," he said. "As a clerk screamed, he fired several shots and told her to shut up."
The man fled, taking money bags and a gun from the armored vehicle driver, the police chief said. "Witnesses called 911 on their cellphones and officers spotted his car," he said.
Witnesses told the American-Statesman that the suspect was driving an older silver Lincoln car because they witnessed the police pursuit that continued through the Springdale Shopping Center at Manor Road and U.S. 183.
"The guy in the Lincoln came off Manor Road through the parking lot going 65 to 70 miles per hour, and he continued south," said Johnny Ardoin, who owns Cal's Hair and Nail Salon in the shopping center. "Then I heard five or six shots."
Ardoin and his friend Tim Clemmons said they could not give a physical description of the man driving the Lincoln, but Ardoin said that "when he went by, he gave us the peace sign."
The police chase continued into a wooded area behind a business in the shopping center, where the suspect and officers exchanged gunfire, Acevedo said.
"Bullets hit the officer's window and door. The suspect then ran into an open field," he said.
The police chief, speaking at a news conference at the Springdale Shopping Center with City Manager Marc Ott and Police Monitor Margo Frasier behind him, said the armed suspect then carjacked a motorist on Old Manor Road.
He said the armed robber released the carjacked motorist and the victim was able to call police.
Acevedo said that police found a gun at the scene and that a second gun was on the suspect when he was arrested. He said one of the guns belonged to the armored vehicle driver from the initial robbery.
He described one of the weapons as a "semi-automatic pistol."
Acevedo would not say what happened to the money taken in the robbery. "It's an open investigation," he said.
The last Austin police officer to be shot was Jaime Padron, 40, who was killed in the early morning hours April 6, 2012, after responding to reports of a shoplifting suspect at a North Austin Wal-Mart. In November, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg announced that she will seek the death penalty against the suspect, 25-year-old Brandon Daniel.
Copyright 2013 - Austin American-Statesman
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
