Man in fatal police shooting identified

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Police on Tuesday identified the man killed by an officer investigating auto burglaries in East Austin the night before as 20-year-old Byron Carter, Jr.

The officer who fired the fatal shot, 3 1/2-year veteran Nathan Wagner, has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.

The incident that led to the shooting began at 10:48 p.m. Monday when two bicycle officers with the car burglary team were patrolling near Eighth Street just east of Interstate 35.

Austin police said they saw two men casing cars, but they then lost sight of them. The officers got off their bikes to walk around and look for them.

At that point, police said they spotted the two men sitting in a parked red car. The parking lights came on, and the driver hit the gas pedal.

Police said the driver rammed his car into a parked Jeep, causing it to lunge forward and hit one of the police officers -- pinning the officer. Because he couldn't see his partner and thought he was stuck beneath the car, the other officer took out his gun and started shooting at the car.

"Fearing that his partner was underneath that vehicle meant potentially being dragged," said Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo during an early morning press conference.

The car kept going. About 20 minutes later, police found the red car near the corner of Eleventh and Branch Street. The passenger was dead, but the driver was not in the car. There was a trail of blood leading away from the car.

Officers and police dogs starting searching for the suspect, while a police helicopter searched from above.

An hour later, at 12:15 a.m. police found the injured driver in the parking lot of Disch-Falk Field at I-35 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. He had been shot in the arm and gone about eight blocks from the where he left the car and the dead passenger.

The suspect, who is 16 and is not being identified, remained in the hospital Tuesday afternoon. Police said they plan to pursue felony charges against him.

Officer Jeffrey Rodriguez, who has been on the force for a year, was taken to the University Medical Center Brackenridge with injuries to his foot. Acevedo said the officer suffered a ruptured achilles tendon.

The chief also added that the bicycles officers were not wearing the new body cameras that some officers have been trying out.

Several members of Carter's family gathered near the crime scene Tuesday morning, waiting for them to officially confirm he was dead. Byron Carter Sr. believes it is his son, but did not know the man his son was with. Gloria Clark said she was Carter's grandmother.

"He's a sweet boy, quiet, very good kid," said Clark. "Everybody says he was with that guy all day long - the guy that was supposedly driving the car. I just want to know why. If he was on the passenger side and another person was driving, why would they shoot him? What made them shoot him?"

According to records, Carter was on probation for a 2010 delivery of a controlled substance charge. He also pleaded no contest to evading arrest in connection to the same case.

Monday's late-night shooting came the day Acevedo said his department had been vindicated after the Department of Justice released a report -- following a nearly four-year-long investigation -- saying the APD had not violated any constitutional rights with its use of force.

On KLBJ's Jeff Ward show - the police chief paid a visit to answer questions about the shooting but did not want to be on camera.

"Is it your contention he hit the cop on purpose?" asked Ward.

"Well, if a cop is standing there with a flashlight and full uniform - I'll let people draw their own conclusions. I'm going to wait til we finish our investigation," answered Acevedo.

The chief asked people not to draw any conclusions though until that investigation is done.

But he did remind everyone when a vehicle is used as a weapon--officers must fear for their lives.

"You have a very confined area. Your target is obviously the driver but it is a confined area, it is a moving target," said Acevedo.