Police investigating road rage shooting involving off-duty TCSO deputy
AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department said it's investigating a shooting involving an off-duty Travis County Sheriff's Office deputy in South Austin.
Police said on June 13, shortly after midnight, an off-duty Travis County deputy, in his personal vehicle, was involved in an altercation with another driver on the I-35 service road between Stassney and William Cannon Drive.
Investigators said shots were fired, but no one was injured.
The deputy is on administrative leave, which is standard policy. The incident seemed to happen due to road rage.
"When you look at the statewide statistics in Texas, do you see these types of incidents increasing year over year, and they’ve been doing so at least since 2017 to 2018 and forward and then we really saw during the pandemic this became a much bigger problem, and we haven’t seen it go down," AAA spokesperson Daniel Armbruster said.
Armbruster said it’s plaguing the roadways.
"A lot of times these are situations that start out as one driver making a mistake, another driver reacting and of course it escalates from there," Armbruster said.
In some cases, the situations have escalated to gun fire. Everytown, an organization working to end gun violence, said statistics from 2022 showed a person is shot or killed in a road rage incident every 16 hour.
Armbruster said if you are involved in a conflict with someone else on the road, try to get away.
"Pull into an area that’s well lit, never get out of your vehicle, if another driver tries to approach you, get away, call 911 if you think your life is in danger," Armbruster said.
APD’s Special Investigation Unit, in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, will conduct a criminal investigation into the incident.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call APD’s Special Investigation Unit at (512) 974-6840 or Capitol Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477. You may also submit an anonymous tip online at austincrimestoppers.org.