Austin police identifies man killed in officer-involved shooting

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Police Department is investigating after a man was killed in an officer-involved shooting.

APD confirmed early Tuesday morning that two officers were involved in the shooting in the 2500 block of Wickersham Lane near Oltorf Street in Southeast Austin. 

At a news conference, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley says the incident happened at around midnight and involved an off-duty officer who was going home and encountered a man in a car who pointed at a gun at the officer's car. The officer fired and the suspect was hit.

In a release, APD says that the officer called 911 at 12:34 a.m. and reported he'd been involved in the shooting incident. According to the officer, he was driving through a neighborhood and turned southbound onto Wickersham Lane, then noticed there was a car behind him. This car cut the officer off and once it pulled up alongside his vehicle, the officer saw the driver point a gun at him.

APD says the officer fired at the suspect, and the vehicle continued to travel a short distance southbound on Wickersham Lane where it finally stopped against the curb. The officer stopped behind the suspect's vehicle and called 911.

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APD says that on-duty officers arrived minutes later and captured the next portion of the incident on body-worn cameras. The footage shows the suspect vehicle stopped along the curb with the off-duty officer's personal vehicle behind it. The off-duty officer gave commands to the driver and as backup approached, they continued giving commands to the driver who was now outside the driver's side.

Despite verbal commands, the driver walked around the rear of the vehicle towards the passenger's side, says APD. The driver opened what appears to be the back-passenger door of the vehicle. As the driver reached into the vehicle, an on-duty officer fired at the driver who went down.

The suspect was pronounced dead at the scene and APD has identified him as 27-year-old Alexander Gonzales.

A 33-year-old woman was in the suspect's vehicle at the time and she was hit by gunfire. She was taken to the hospital where officials say she is in stable condition.

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An infant was also in the suspect's vehicle but the infant was not hurt. The infant was transported to the hospital with APD Victim Services as a precautionary measure, says APD.

Officials say that a gun was found in the suspect's car. 

Both officers will be placed on paid administrative leave. The off-duty officer has been with APD for five years and the on-duty officer has been with APD for two years. APD says it will be conducting two concurrent investigations: a criminal investigation by APD's Special Investigation Unit in conjunction with the District Attorney's Office and an administrative investigation conducted by the APD Internal Affairs Unit with oversight from the Office of Police Oversight.

This happened less than 24 hours after a SWAT situation lead to an officer-involved shooting in North Austin.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 512-472-TIPS, or use the new Crime Stoppers App. You can also submit tips by downloading APD’s mobile app, Austin PD, for free on iPhone and Android.