Austin officers face potential grand jury for taking pictures mass gunman

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A Texas progressive district lawyer stated he is not going to search fees in opposition to the Austin cops who fatally shot a gunman who killed three folks and injured 13 others in a suspected terror assault amid hypothesis that they may probably face a grand jury.

Travis County District Legal professional Jose Garza launched an announcement after Gov. Greg Abbott stated he would finally have the ultimate say ought to the officer be charged or convicted in courtroom.

"These officers are heroes, and it ought to go with out saying that my workplace will not be in search of any fees and wouldn't search fees," Garza stated. "The accounts on the contrary are false, deliberately false, and are being peddled for apparent political functions."

Garza's workplace was the topic of criticism after it turned recognized that the officers may probably face a grand jury as a part of a 2021 coverage that each one officer-involved taking pictures circumstances and critical use-of-force incidents be introduced to a grand jury for overview.

The Austin Police Division and the FBI examine a taking pictures at Buford's on West sixth Avenue in Austin, Texas, on March 1, 2026. (Stephanie Tacy/NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures)

Doug O’Connell, whose regulation agency O’Connell West has been tapped to characterize the officers on the behest of the Austin Police Affiliation, stated the overview is a part of a coverage instituted by Garza.

Garza, O'Connell stated, demanded the coverage on the route of the Wren Collective, a progressive prison justice reform nonprofit that backs liberal DAs and is especially composed of former public defenders in search of to overtake the American justice system.

"It is my perception that the Wren Collective has directed the district lawyer to overview officer-involved circumstances this manner," O'Connell informed Fox Information Digital. "It appears they're very anti-law enforcement officers."

<source media="(min-width: 1024px) and (max-width: 1279px)" srcset="https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/931/523/jose-garza-austin-yogurt-shop-murders-fox-news-001.jpg?ve=1&tl=1, https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2026/02/1862/1046/jose-garza-austin-yogurt-shop-murders-fox-news-001.jpg?ve=1&tl=1 2x" height="523" width="931"> Travis County District Legal professional Jose Garza speaks at a information convention. (Jay Janner / The Austin American-Statesman by way of Getty Pictures)

The Austin cops shot and killed Ndiaga Diagne, a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal, early Sunday after he opened fire at a bar, Buford’s Yard Beer Backyard, killing Savitha Shan, 21, Jorge Pederson, 30; and 19-year-old Ryder Harrington.

Fox Information Digital has reached out to Garza's workplace.

In an announcement to Fox Information Digital, Wren Collective founder Jessica Model thanked the responding officers for his or her actions, which she credited for saving extra lives.

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Ndiaga Diagne, 53, shot and killed two folks and injured 14 others, police stated. He was carrying a shirt that includes an Iran flag. (Obtained by Fox Information)

"Three folks died in a mass taking pictures final week, extra folks have been harmed, households are grieving, and your complete metropolis is in mourning," she stated. "The officers did heroic work and stopped what may have been an excellent larger tragedy. As an Austin resident, I thank them, and likewise these folks offering help for the numerous victims and their family members now."

O'Connell stated Garza ran on a marketing campaign of focusing on cops in an anti-police local weather.

The DA instituted the overview in 2021 amid requires higher regulation enforcement accountability following the loss of life of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which additionally sparked nationwide calls to defund police businesses.

Along with worrying about violence directed at them, officers now have to fret about potential authorized motion, O'Connell stated.

"Each time an officer is dispatched to a violent prison name, they have to be considering: ‘I may very well be killed or relying on how this goes, I may very well be indicted,'" O'Connell stated.

In a publish on X, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott praised the officers whereas noting that Garza's workplace is not the end-all ought to the officers concerned be charged or convicted in courtroom.

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Austin police work on the scene of a taking pictures on West sixth Avenue on Sunday the place three folks have been shot and killed earlier than the gunman was killed by responding authorities. (Jay Janner/The Austin American-Statesman by way of Getty Pictures)

"These cops are heroes who saved lives. Regardless of the DA does, I'll have the ultimate say within the destiny of those cops," he wrote on X.

Fox Information Digital has reached out to Abbott's workplace for readability on his remarks.

Texas state Rep. Mitch Little, a Republican who previously served because the impeachment lawyer for Texas Legal professional Basic Ken Paxton, informed Fox Information Digital there was no authorized justification to have a grand jury for each single officer concerned taking pictures.

"The one clarification for that could be a leftist ideological bent on the a part of the district lawyer’s workplace," he stated.

In the meantime, a lot of the criticism of the necessary overview stems from its lack of transparency, O'Connell stated,

"Nothing about it's truthful or balanced. The district lawyer holds all the ability relating to grand juries," he stated, noting that protection legal professionals aren't allowed to be current or current proof.

"We all know that grand juries have been manipulated as a result of we have needed to defend officers who've been indicted," he added.

Members of the FBI and native regulation enforcement examine outdoors of Buford's bar in downtown on March 01, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Three persons are useless and 14 others hospitalized following a mass taking pictures early Sunday morning. (Brandon Bell/Getty Pictures)

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Michael Bullock, the president of the Austin Police Affiliation, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, stated he believed there was already "ample info" within the public sphere that exhibits {that a} grand jury is not essential.

"There’s no must topic these officers to that particularly because it’s taking the DA over a yr in virtually each case to current these to the grand jury," he wrote Tuesday on X. "That’s approach too lengthy and added stress for officers who've already been by way of rather a lot."