Man dies in officer-involved shooting in downtown Austin

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - A man has died in an officer-involved shooting in downtown Austin Wednesday evening.

Austin police say the 46-year-old man appeared to be in some sort of mental crisis before walking towards officers while holding a butcher knife. 

Police responded to the Spring Condominiums in the 300 block of Bowie Street, near the intersection of West 3rd Street, where APD Chief Brian Manley says a check welfare call came in around 4:55 p.m. Neighbors heard a man banging loudly on emergency doors and said he sounded like he was having a mental breakdown.

The first officer got there ten minutes later, where staff told the officer the man was a resident and was holding a large butcher knife or kitchen knife to his throat walking around. He was initially outside but came inside, got on the elevator and went to the fifth floor gym.

APD says they were told the man was waving his knife at the camera which APD says sped up their need to respond. Four officers and a security guard got on the elevator. When the doors opened on the fifth floor, Manley says the officers' body cameras caught the rest of the incident. 

Manley said the officers began giving him commands and the man turned around. 

"It appears on the video he’s initially holding a very large kitchen knife or butcher knife to his throat," Manley said. "He then pulls it down towards his side and begins walking towards the officers. As he takes a step or two towards the officers, two of the officers fired their duty pistols and one officer fired a taser." 

EMS and first responders performed life saving measures for quite some time on scene before transporting the victim to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at 6:07 pm. 

Manley says the victim wasn’t lunging at officers like was previously reported. It was a narrow hallway and he started walking towards them and was at least seven to ten feet away from them. 

The two officers that fired their duty pistols have both been with the department for five years and are on administrative leave while they are investigating, as is standard protocol.