A manhunt was underway Sunday evening for a former law enforcement officer who is suspected of shooting and killing three people in Austin, Texas in what was described as a “domestic situation.” Police identified the suspect as Stephen Nicholas Broderick, a 41-year-old former detective at the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. Broderick, a former property crimes detective, resigned in June after he was charged with sexual assault of a child.
Police said the suspect should be considered armed and dangerous but it wasn’t clear whether he was still in the city. “The victims were all known to this suspect,” Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon said. “At this point, we do not think this individual is out there targeting random people to shoot.” But Chacon did warn there was concern Broderick “might possibly take a hostage” while the manhunt is ongoing.
Austin police have tentatively identified Stephen Nicholas Broderick as the suspect in Sunday's deadly shooting near the Arboretum. Officials said three people were killed. According to police, Broderick is still at large, though this is believed to be an isolated domestic situation and there is no risk to the general public. Austin Police Department Interim Chief Joe Chacon said officials do not know what direction Broderick may have traveled.
America’s violent weekend: US rocked by back-to-back shootings across the country
Americans awoke Friday to news of yet another mass shooting, this time at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, where eight people were killed late Thursday.
By the end of the weekend, at least nine more people had died from gun violence in back-to-back shootings across the country in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Ohio, Nebraska and Louisiana. At least 10 more were wounded.
Since March 16, when eight people were killed and one wounded in shootings at three Atlanta-area spas, at least 50 mass shootings have been reported in the United States. CNN defines a mass shooting as a shooting with four or more casualties dead or wounded excluding the shooter.
Police in Texas hunting former deputy sheriff after triple homicide
04/19/2021 2:19
(Reuters) -Police in Austin, Texas, were searching on Sunday for a former deputy sheriff wanted in connection with the fatal shooting of three people at an apartment complex earlier in the day.
The slayings, which followed a spate of mass shootings in the United States, drew a large emergency response, as officers raced to the neighborhood and locked down the surrounding area, which includes a popular shopping complex.
Authorities lifted the shelter-in-place order on Sunday afternoon after determining that the incident was domestic in nature, rather than an active shooter situation, and launched a manhunt for the suspect.