Family of man shot on 6th St says APD is not telling whole story
The family of 24-year-old Landon Nobles is demanding answers after he was shot dead by Austin police in the early hours of Sunday morning.
“We just want the truth to be known,” said Frank Nobles, Landon’s cousin.
Austin police say at 2:39 a.m., someone fired a gunshot in the air, which they observed on halo surveillance cameras. A description of the suspect was sent out and officers found a match they say was Landon Nobles.
READ: APD investigating officer involved shooting on 6th St. in downtown Austin
When officers approached him, they say he took off running near Trinity Street.
“The suspect did turn and fire toward our officers. Our officers returned fire and the suspect was ultimately shot at that point,” said Interim Chief Brian Manley.
Nobles' cousin Frank says they were out celebrating his birthday, and he says what police say happened at Trinity Street, is not the truth.
“He does take off running and he's tripped up by a bicycle, one of the police bikes it just come out of nowhere. Then the impact, when he hits the bike a shot is fired. I'm looking dead at him and he has nothing in his hand,” said Nobles.
“The suspect went down after he was shot. Officers went in and began life saving measures and EMS arrived on scene,” said Manley.
But Nobles was pronounced dead just at the hospital shortly after. Frank Nobles says he's not sure if his cousin had a gun that night, but he didn't see him holding it at that time. But he does remember what happened on Trinity.
“There's another seven or eight shots that took place after that. And I saw bullet holes, two in his back,” said Nobles.
His family says Landon was a family man, who had no reason to shoot at police.
“That's not his character. Landon was a great energetic young man, always laughing, loved to play with the children,” said Pastor Archie Kelly, Landon’s uncle.
The two officers Sergeant Richard Egal and Corporal Maxwell Johnson remain on paid administrative leave, protocol for a shooting. As the investigation continues, nobles' family just hopes for transparency from APD.
“My thing is, they have thousands of cameras. Let’s see the evidence of him pointing the gun at the police.
Police tell us there is clear evidence that a gun went off on Trinity, because there are shell casings inconsistent to the guns APD officers use, located in the area Nobles was.
Fox 7 requested the surveillance video, Austin police say since this is still under investigation, that surveillance will not be released at this time.