New details in deadly Northwest Austin officer-involved shooting
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department provided new details about the deadly officer-involved shooting last week.
Both of the police chiefs for Austin and Bee Cave held a joint press conference to address the shooting.
The police chiefs shared materials, including a map timeline, a patrol dash camera recording, body camera footage, ring video, and 911 calls from Thursday, November 7.
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They began by showing dash camera video from a Bee Cave patrol car on Highway 71 on Nov. 7, at 3:11 am.
"At that time, he [the Bee Cave officer] was able to observe a vehicle traveling westbound at what he determined to be a high rate of speed and was somewhat it was driving somewhat erratically," said Chief of the Bee Cave Police Department Brian Jones.
The Bee Cave police officer then attempted to perform a traffic stop. The driver of the orange truck eventually pulled over on the side of the road, waited for the officer to get out of the patrol car, and then took off again.
"He's already chased him through Bee Cave into Lakeway, but as you can see, the suspect vehicle is driving on the wrong side of the road," said Chief Jones about the dash cam video.
Jones said that out of caution, the lone officer called the sheriff's office for assistance. The Travis County deputy lost sight of the truck, and the pursuit ended. However, officers could contact the vehicle's registered owner by looking up the license plate.
Map of timeline of events. Courtesy: Austin Police Department
"It was his son, Zachary Labrie, that was driving the vehicle," said Jones. "His son had told him that he had been involved in a police pursuit, that he was armed, and he had made some suicidal statements to his father."
Police said 27-year-old Zachary Labrie then drove to his ex-girlfriend's apartment in Northwest Austin.
"He's seen on the Ring door cam kicking in her door," said APD Chief Lisa Davis. "Now, he has a history with her of some family violence that included some strangulation. She was not home at the time. She was actually out of town, out of fear that she had."
He spent only a little time at that location. Labrie was in and out in a few minutes. Then, about an hour later, the police got a 911 call from a Starbucks in Austin.
"I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for my shift to start at Starbucks, and this guy came up to my window," stated the Starbucks 911 caller. "He had a mask over his face, and he pointed a gun at my window and told me to get out, and he stole my car."
Around 6:30 a.m., police received another 911 call, but this time from a man who was carjacked in the H-E-B parking lot near 620 and 2222.
"Yes, he, he got my car," said the H-E-B 911 caller.
At this point, APD knows the suspect's identity. They decided to return to the ex-girlfriend's apartment, which is where they found Labrie, who is seen running from the officers in the body cam video.
"Austin police, get on the ground," shouted police in the video.
"That's a gun in his hand, you can see the weapon," said Chief Davis, referencing the video. "He then turns and points at the officers."
In the video, the police yelled, "Stop, or you're going to get tased!"
"So this is someone who's still coming up off the ground and still pointing that weapon at the officers, and so that's why the officers continue to fire," said Davis.
Labrie was pronounced dead at the scene around 9 a.m. We now know he had a criminal background with a history of several felony charges and had served time in prison.
"He did have an ankle monitor on that he cut off during, I believe, sometimes from the period of the pursuit to the time he showed up at the girlfriend's house," said Davis.
Labrie bonded out of the Travis County Jail on October 29, nine days before this all took place.
The three officers and one detective involved have been placed on administrative leave, which is standard protocol.
Police have also provided four videos, including body camera footage, of the shooting. For more details, click here.
This is still an active investigation.
APD will conduct two concurrent investigations into this incident: a criminal investigation conducted by the APD Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney's Office and an administrative investigation conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit, with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.