Six people were killed and two police officers and a third person wounded in shootings Tuesday in Austin and San Antonio, Texas, authorities said. A suspect was being held.
Authorities described a complicated series of events that spanned about eight hours.
Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said at a news conference early Wednesday that officers responding to a burglary call found a man in a home’s backyard Tuesday evening. According to Henderson, they exchanged fire and one officer suffered non-life-threatening wounds and was taken to a hospital. The man fled but later crashed the vehicle he was driving and was taken into custody. He didn’t have any gunshot wounds, Henderson said.
Two apparent homicide victims were found in the home, and the suspect was charged with capital murder with more charges to come, Henderson said.
Just before noon, Austin police got a number of calls about what turned out to be the fatal shooting of a man and woman in another house, he said.
About an hour earlier, an Austin Independent School District police officer was shot, Henderson said. CBS Austin affiliate KEYE-TV reports that he was hit in a leg while patrolling at Northeast Early College High School. Wednesday classes there was canceled.
And just before 5 p.m., a bicyclist was shot, Henderson said. His injuries weren’t life-threatening.
San Antonio police said in a late-night briefing that they were told by their counterparts in Austin Tuesday evening about an incident in San Antonio that may have involved a loss of life. Officers found the bodies of two people in a home. Those slayings are believed to have happened before any of the incidents in Austin.
The suspect in Austin, who is in his thirties, had links to the house in San Antonio, police in San Antonio told reporters, but the nature of those links was unclear. Henderson said investigators concluded that all the incidents were connected after last one happened.
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