fatally shooting<\/a> an unarmed 17-year-old Black teenager early Friday during what authorities described as a mental health crisis, offering the first public view of the encounter.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn-channels-pixel.ex.co\/events\/0012000001fxZm9AAE?integrationType=DEFAULT&template=design%2Farticle%2Fplatypus_two_column.tpl\")
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The video, released alongside 911 call audioat a news conference Friday afternoon, shows officers responding to a neighborhood park in the 10110 block of Baden Lane after the teenager called 911 to report a young male with a firearm.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe keeps on messing with his waist,\u201d the teenager told the 911 dispatcher. \u201cThen I seen something in his hands. It looked like a firearm, but I’m not sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The body-camera footage showed three responding officers approaching the teenager on a playground and verbally ordering him to show his hands. The teenager instead lifted his shirt and reached toward his waistband, prompting near-instantaneous gunfire from the three officers. They opened fire again after the teenager kept moving while on the ground.<\/p>\n
Police Chief Lisa Davis said the officers believed the teenager was about to draw a weapon, but no firearm was recovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Davis said officers later determined the teenager had a water bottle in his waistband.<\/p>\n
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Davis apologized to the teenager\u2019s family at the news conference, saying she cannot imagine the pain and grief they are experiencing. But, she said the officers arrived believing they would encounter an armed person and responded appropriately.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers are often required to make life or death decisions in seconds,\u201d Davis said. \u201cThis was a rapidly evolving incident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis again said that all signs point to the teenager seeking out \u201csuicide by police\u201d \u2014 a characterization she presented at an earlier briefing. She cited the circumstances surrounding the 911 call and her three decades of law enforcement experience as reasons to support that conclusion. She said the Police Department had no prior interactions with the teenager.<\/p>\n
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Austin Police block off a large radius around the site of an officer-involved shooting on Baden Lane July 24.<\/p>\n
Justin Doud\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
When the teen called 911, he specifically requested a police response despite being offered a mental health option by the dispatcher, according to the audio recording.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Greg Meyer, an internationally\u00a0recognized expert in police use of force, reviewed the video at the American-Statesman\u2019s request and said the encounter appeared to depict \u201csuicide by cop.\u201d However, Meyer said investigators will ultimately focus on whether the officers\u2019 actions were reasonable based on what they perceived at the time.<\/p>\n
He said one question investigators will examine is whether it was reasonable for one of the officers to continue shooting after the subject fell to the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a tragic case, as these things usually are,\u201d Meyer said.<\/p>\n
The teenager’s death could intensify longstanding questions in Austin about how police respond to mental health emergencies, particularly when those in crisis are Black and unarmed. Advocates have urged the city for years to expand civilian crisis response programs and reduce the likelihood that mental health calls end in deadly force.<\/p>\n
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Austin Police crime scene investigators analyze the site of an officer-involved shooting on Baden Lane July 24.<\/p>\n
Justin Doud\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
Community activist Chas Moore, who watched the footage Friday, questioned the framing of the shooting as \u201csuicide by cop\u201d and argued the encounter underscored the need for more mental health crisis response personnel who can respond to emergencies alongside police. Moore said the video showed opportunities where a different response might have helped the teenager.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just hate the fact that we\u2019re here again,\u201d Moore told the Statesman. \u201cIt’s just a clear example of why we need different options. What if that 17-year-old had a different agency respond, one that could have helped him?\u201d<\/p>\n
Austin has expanded its mental health emergency response system in recent years, including adding a mental health option to its 911 system and launching specialized first responder teams that pair officers with behavioral health clinicians. But those programs remain limited.<\/p>\n
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Davis said the department\u2019s Special Investigations Unit is conducting a criminal investigation. APD\u2019s Internal Affairs Unit is conducting a separate administrative investigation with oversight from Austin Police Oversight.<\/p>\n
The teenager\u2019s identity will be released after his family is notified, Davis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis watches body camera footage during a press conference at APD headquarters, July 24,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-385770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}