{"id":394152,"date":"2026-08-01T00:08:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/394152\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T00:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T00:08:56","slug":"community-members-call-for-accountability-after-teen-shot-and-killed-by-austin-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/394152\/","title":{"rendered":"Community members call for accountability after teen shot and killed by Austin police"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thursday’s tense council meeting at Austin City Hall came nearly one week after police shot and killed 17-year-old Anthoneil Williams II.<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Calls for accountability are growing after a 17-year-old was shot and killed by Austin police on July 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anthoneil Williams II<\/a> was shot by officers at a northeast Austin park after police responded to a report of a person with a gun. Authorities later said no weapon was found at the scene.<\/p>\n

The shooting has led to protests and debate over the Austin Police Department\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n


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During Thursday\u2019s Austin City Council meeting, several community members filled council chambers, chanting and calling for accountability. Budget discussions were briefly paused as Austin police escorted some people out of the building.<\/p>\n

Outside Austin City Hall, demonstrators held posters of Williams and continued calling for answers following his death.<\/p>\n

Police said Williams called 911 himself Friday morning and reported seeing someone in a parking lot with a gun. According to police, officers gave Williams commands after arriving at the scene, and he reached toward his waistband. Three officers then fired several shots.<\/p>\n

Police later determined the item in Williams\u2019 waistband was a water bottle.<\/p>\n

While the investigation remains ongoing, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said that the situation indicates his intention was “suicide by police.” However, community members who gathered Thursday disputed that and argued the situation was not handled properly.<\/p>\n

Protesters are also calling on the city council to keep the police department\u2019s budget flat as council members continue discussions on the proposed Fiscal Year 2027 budget.<\/p>\n

Chas Moore with the Austin Justice Coalition said the city should prioritize investments in community services.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice already have a $400-plus million budget. That\u2019s more than enough to do all the things they need to do,” Moore said. “The one thing we have not done in this city around the country is invest primarily and heavily in social services.”<\/p>\n

The proposed Fiscal Year 2027 city budget would increase funding for the police department by more than $24 million, bringing the department\u2019s total budget to nearly $550 million.<\/p>\n

The Austin Police Association said the additional funding would help the department continue moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s being able to meet again those contractual obligations that the city has. But then, it also means that we’re kind of able to continue the path that we are on. So what we’ve seen and the chief highlighted part of this, was that our attrition rate is on a downward trend, which is good,\u201d said Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association. “And then that also allows us to work more towards recruiting and trying to fill the gaps that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullock said keeping the department\u2019s budget flat would have significant impacts, because funding has already been committed under the city\u2019s five-year police labor contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thursday’s tense council meeting at Austin City Hall came nearly one week after police shot and killed 17-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394153,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-394152","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\/394152","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=394152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}