# Protestor shot, killed in Austin Texas tonight **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 26, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366 "2020-07-26T04:28:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/1 "2020-07-26T04:28:02Z")
There’s [scant information available](https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/downtown-austin-shooting-congress-sixth-street/269-9cd396c1-169c-45be-9529-c1e4662f838e). Shots were fired during a protest in Austin, Texas, and someone has died. There’s a video at the link, but it’s not at all clear what happened. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/2 "2020-07-26T05:35:29Z")
I found this: > **[Mother of victim killed at Austin protest says son was pushing fiancee's...](https://abc13.com/austin-shooting-downtown-protest-murder/6335183/)** > > It happened during a Black Lives Matter protest when a driver honked and sped toward protesters before opening fire, witnesses said. ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/3 "2020-07-26T05:46:17Z")
> **[News Archives](https://heavy.com/news/)** > > Today’s top breaking news, delivered without bias or snark. In a press conference, the Austin police said that the man who was shot died of a gunshot wound after he was transported to a hospital. Officials said that the man who was shot may have been carrying a rifle and may have approached the suspect’s vehicle. -snip- A witness on the scene told Mose Buchele from KUT a slightly different version of what the Austin Police Department shared. The witness said that a blue car came swerving into the middle of the street, almost hitting protesters. > At scene of shooting at protest downtown, a protester gave me his account of what happened. > “As we’re walking down passing 4th street, a blue car just comes swerving out into the middle of the street almost runs over a bunch of protesters…” (1/4) > > — Mose Buchele (@MoseBuchele) [July 26, 2020](https://twitter.com/MoseBuchele/status/1287245155683139584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) The witness [told KUT](https://twitter.com/MoseBuchele/status/1287245156467585024): > As we’re walking down passing 4th street, a blue car just comes swerving out into the middle of the street almost runs over a bunch of protesters… Everybody around starts, like, smacking the car trying to get him to slow down. And they stop. And some guy, he walks up and he’s like ‘Hey just don’t do that you’re going to get somebody hurt.’ And he [in car] pulls down his window and he fires three shots into the guy. From point blank. No words no nothing. And then rolls up his window and zooms off. He just fired straight into the mess of the crowd. Not away from it, but towards it.” ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/4 "2020-07-26T05:49:07Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > In a press conference, the Austin police said that the man who was shot died of a gunshot wound after he was transported to a hospital. Officials said that the man who was shot may have been carrying a rifle and may have approached the suspect’s vehicle. If the dude was executed, it should be pretty fucking obvious if there was a rifle in on the body. Why is this the fact that they felt was most important to include? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/5 "2020-07-26T22:17:24Z")
There’s video of the guy being interviewed. He was carrying a rifle. Seems like he approached a vehicle as well. There are contradictory reports about whether he fired the rifle (should be easy to verify), pointed it at anyone, or was otherwise threatening with it (if you don’t consider approaching someone in a car threatening). There’s also some reports that the shooter was aggressively driving their car. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/6 "2020-07-26T22:57:43Z")
The account I read said that the guy approached the car and pounted his rifle at it. When he did, the guy in the car shot him. But eyewitness accounts are going to be all over the place right now. It would be a good idea to wait for actual evidence before drawing conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/7 "2020-07-27T01:30:51Z")
Seth Abramson [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1287555115113566217), quoting the New York Times: > Austin PD, per NYT: “The driver opened fire from inside the car as Mr. Foster approached. Another person in the crowd pulled out a handgun and shot at the vehicle as it sped away.” ETA: I bet ol’ Sam got his account from the PostMillenial, which makes it pretty much worthless. Also, I am reminded why I had Sam on ignore and must make haste to remedy his return as far as my personal feed is concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/8 "2020-07-27T01:55:35Z")
That sentence doesn’t contradict Sam. Most of the self-defense traffic on twitter is from pretty suspect parties, but I dunno. If someone with a rifle approached my car with their finger on the trigger I’d be worried about my safety (I’m not saying this is what happened!). I’ll wait for more video or a more full investigation. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/9 "2020-07-27T02:16:07Z")
> **[A Man Was Fatally Shot At A Black Lives Matter Protest In Texas](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/austin-protest-shooting-garrett-foster)** > > The suspect who allegedly shot Garrett Foster was released by police pending further investigation. Buzzfeed news, quoting a _New York Times_ article (linked within Buzzfeed). > A witness, Michael Capochiano, told the [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/us/austin-shooting-texas-protests.html) that he saw the suspect’s car veer toward the crowd before the shooting, causing people to run away in fear. > > “You could hear the wheels squealing from hitting the accelerator so fast,” Capochiano, 53, said. “I’m a little surprised that nobody got hit. He was driving at an aggressive speed into the crowd.” > > The driver stopped after hitting a traffic cone, Capochiano said, and many protesters approached the vehicle to yell at him. Foster also approached the car, with his rifle pointing downwards, according to Capochiano. > > “He was not aiming the gun or doing anything aggressive with the gun,” Capochiano told the Times. “He was not holding it in an aggressive manner… I’m not sure if there was much of an exchange of words. It wasn’t like there was any sort of verbal altercations. He wasn’t charging at the car. He was just walking over there.” I don’t see anything about Foster having his finger on the trigger. I do agree that more evidence is needed. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/10 "2020-07-27T03:23:37Z")
Another article with videos at different angles: [What We Know About the Austin BLM Protest Shooting](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/what-we-know-about-the-austin-blm-protest-shooting.html) Can’t see everything, but seems like: 1) protesters walking through intersection, 2) car quickly makes a right hand turn through the protesters, 3) protesters approach the car to, I imagine, complain to the driver, 4) gunshots. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/11 "2020-07-27T19:46:33Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/what-we-know-about-the-austin-blm-protest-shooting.html](https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/07/what-we-know-about-the-austin-blm-protest-shooting.html) Also notable: > So far, no photographs or video footage of Foster pointing his rifle at the car or driver have emerged. One image which has been widely shared on social media appears to show Foster pointing his rifle down toward the ground while near the vehicle. ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsTheEnd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisistheend/32/4713_2.png) [@ThisIsTheEnd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsTheEnd)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2020, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/12 "2020-07-29T05:50:33Z")
This is just another guy who carries hoping to be in the right place at the right time to be a hero. There was another one, ended up shooting two protestors instead of the guy he was after. > **[Protester arrested in shooting of 2 at Black Live Matter freeway...](https://abcnews.go.com/US/person-interest-sought-shooting-injured-elijah-mcclain-protest/story?id=72008018)** > > Added the latest on the arrest of a protester Samuel Young in a shooting that erupted on a Colorado freeway and left two demonstrators injured. These kids are fucked in the head. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protestor-shot-killed-in-austin-texas-tonight/916366/13 "2020-08-06T18:03:00Z")
This is why I have such misgivings about the proliferation of open-carry: so many people there think they’re Mel Gibson with a gun but they’re really Barney Fife. While I certainly don’t like some moron recklessly driving through a protest, all Quickdraw McGraw did was shoot two innocent people and aggravate an already bad situation.