New Travis County DA will fight for officer-involved shooting cases
AUSTIN, Texas - The new District Attorney-elect for Travis County says justice for officer-involved shooting cases like Javier Ambler and Mike Ramos will be one of his highest priorities once he takes office next year.
Jose Garza was just elected into the position and will be replacing current Travis County DA Margaret Moore.
“We have an enormous amount of work ahead of us. We want to keep our community safe and build a criminal justice system where all people are treated equally, regardless of their race or ethnicity, regardless of how much money they have, and regardless of their immigration status,” said Garza.
RELATED: Travis and Williamson County DAs announce joint investigation into Javier Ambler case
Garza says one of his highest priorities going into office is getting justice for the families related to officer-involved shooting cases.
“My heart broke and continues to break for those families. For the Ambler family and the Ramos family as they continue to wait for justice and are prepared to assume the office. I look forward to to fighting for them,” said Garza.
RELATED: Brenda Ramos calls DA's decision to not present her son's case next month "very disrespectful"
Earlier this year, Moore released a statement saying she would not present evidence to a grand jury for any officer-involved shooting cases. Instead, she said she would leave those cases up to the next newly elected DA after she lost the seat during a primary runoff against Garza.
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“I'm hopeful that when I assume the office, we will be in a position to move forward with those cases as quickly as possible,” said Garza.
For now, Garza says he will be taking time to learn about each case to make sure he is privy to them all.
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“I feel an enormous amount of responsibility to them to work every single day to make sure that we have a system that lives up to their expectations,” he said.