AUSTIN, Texas — Austin’s 33rd homicide of 2026 comes before mid-July. At this rate, could the homicides in the city outpace the 51 we saw over 12 months in 2025?
Austin police identified the victim that was found fatally shot in an East Austin park Wednesday night.
APD originally reported last night’s incident as a homicide, then said the case was being investigated as a death. Later, new information Thursday morning revealed that officers are seeking suspects, believing whoever killed 26-year-old Minor Garcia left him dead in a truck and fled the scene.
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Officer Austin Zarling said officers responded around 5:42 p.m. on July 8 to a welfare check at Bolm District Park, located at 6700 Bolm Road, after someone visiting the park found the victim and called 911. (Photo: CBS Austin)
When asked if 33 was a concerning figure compared to 51 homicides across 12 months last year, Michael Bullock, President of the Austin Police Association, says homicides could outnumber 2025’s by the end of the year, but it’s not certain.
“We always hope that [the number of homicides] goes down but, being that we’re already at 33 and we’re just about halfway through the year, really, I think the conditions are there where we may meet or exceed where we were last year,” he said.
Garcia’s murder marks the 7th murder in Austin in less than two months.
Bullock says it’s not uncommon to see a string of several homicides in a short period throughout certain times of the year, but police aren’t sure exactly why.
“That’s something I think a lot of us wish we had the answer to,” he said. “where sometimes it just seems like [in the] summertime it does tend to pick up a bit.”
As Garcia’s case and several others continue to be worked, Bullock is confident that the investigations are in good hands.
“You will not find a better—especially in a major city—homicide unit like anywhere in the country, because they historically have an over 90 percent solve rate in homicides. Just a couple of years ago, they had a one hundred percent solve rate.”
Indeed, APD achieved a one hundred percent homicide clearance rate in 2023. The police department’s homicide unit has boasted a 90 percent or greater homicide clearance rate every year since 2015.