AUSTIN (KXAN) — An officer stunned a man early Tuesday morning after police said he kept striking himself with a metal object. The man later died at a local hospital.

Looks like he’s got a pipe on him…he’s got blood all over him…he’s carrying a pipe.”

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Police said they began receiving multiple 911 calls at about 3:05 a.m. about a pedestrian on U.S. 183 near the 12300 block of Research Boulevard. The callers told police the man had obvious injuries to his body.

Police said they arrived on the scene at about 3:09 a.m. and attempted to speak with the man and de-escalate the situation. The man, however, would not respond to officers, and police said he began seriously injuring himself with a metal object in front of them.

One officer used a Taser on the man, which police said then allowed them to render aid. Austin-Travis County EMS then took the man to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 4:05 a.m.

“I think that’s seriously crazy,” Sydney Ellis a neighbor who lives in the area said. “183 is crazy all the time…there’s always traffic. So the fact that there was somebody on the highway, and the way that situation went down…I could have been driving on the high way at that time.”

Police are now investigating this as an in-custody death. A criminal investigation will happen now alongside an internal investigation, according to police.

“Any loss of life is a tragedy,” Sgt. Destiny Silva said during a Tuesday morning news conference. “We take this very seriously.”

The frontage road in this area reopened before 1 p.m. Tuesday. Investigators took photos and crews cleaning up debris.

However, unanswered questions remain.

“I would really just love to know…was there anything mental health-related?,” Ellis said.