6:20 a.m. CT update: Austin, Texas, police Chief Brian Manley said two officers were involved in an early morning altercation Sunday that led to the shooting death of a 24-year-old African-American man authorities said fired a gun at police.
The incident began with reports of shots fired about 2:30 a.m. CT Sunday, Manley said, when a man fired a gun in front of a club along Sixth Street. The man ran as police approached, Manley said. At some point during the pursuit, the man fired at officers, and two officers returned fire, fatally wounding the man, Manley said.
Police have not released the name of the man or the officers involved in the incident. Manley said the department is seeking any video bystanders may have from the incident.
ORIGINAL STORY: Police are investigating an officer-involved shooting in downtown Austin, Texas.
Authorities sent a tweet around 3:20 a.m. CT asking people to avoid Trinity street between Sixth and Seventh streets as investigators gather evidence at the scene. The shooting early Sunday appears to be Austin’s fifth officer-involved shooting that injured or killed a person since the beginning of the year.
Police have still not given any details on the shooting, but more than a dozen officers filled the streets, some using flashlights to peer into a white car and red pickup sitting nose-to-nose near the intersection of Trinity and Seventh.
The area, which earlier had been packed with people, was all but deserted.
Farrukh Kasbati, 26, said he saw two men arguing in the area just before the incident.
He said he didn’t know what the men were arguing about, but it appeared that each were with a group of people.
As the men argued, one of the men repeatedly shouted “east side” before another man in his group pulled out a gun and fired.
Kasbati said he did not know if anyone was hit, but everyone in the area took off running.
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