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| The Austin Walmart crime scene. |
(UPDATED -- see below)
Brandon Montgomery Daniel, age 24, was reported as being intoxicated in Walmart in Austin, Texas. Police officer Jaime Padron responded. When Padron approached Daniel, they got into a fight, then Daniel pulled out a gun and shot Officer Padron dead at point-blank range. Two Walmart employees then tackled Daniel and held him until more officers arrived. Padron was the father of two children.
Daniel had apparently been drinking alcohol and taken Xanax at the time of the shooting.
From an article:
“It’s with a heavy heart we have to report that we lost a police officer this morning,” Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said.
Officials say an on-duty Austin police officer was shot and killed while responding to a 911 call of an intoxicated person inside of a Walmart near Parmer Lane and Interstate 35. The Austin Police Department identified the fallen officer as Sr. Officer Jaime Padron.
Police received the call around 2:20 a.m. When Officer Padron arrived on the scene, he made contact with the man.
According to police, the suspect immediately engaged Officer Padron in a fight, pulled out a semi-automatic pistol and shot him at point-blank range.
“It’s a sad day. We’ve lost a member of our family,” City Manager Marc Ott said.
After the shooting, two Walmart employees tackled the gunman to the ground before he was able to hurt anyone else.
Acevedo said Officer Padron had been with Austin Police Department a little over three years. He worked with the airport police and the San Angelo Police Department prior to his time with APD.
Officer Padron leaves behind two young daughters, ages 6 and 10, their mother and his parents. Acevedo said the community will stand with the fallen officer’s family now and in the years to come.
“We’ll make sure those two little girls, who just lost their father tonight, through no fault of his own, that they are raised the way they need to be raised and that their needs are met,” he said.
Walmart. Save money. Die faster.
UPDATE (11/20/12): Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case.
UPDATE (12/31/13): The shooter, Brandon Daniel, is pleading "not guilty."
UPDATE (12/21/14): Brandon Daniel was found guilty of capital murder and is eligible for the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
UPDATE (2/20/14): Details have been released of what happened that night. From the security footage:
Padron approaches Daniel. Daniel begins running toward the front entrance of the store. Padron and two Walmart employees — Lincoln LeMere and Archie Jordy — follow suit. ...
As Daniel approaches the door, Padron tackles him and the two slide several feet across the floor. The few customers around scatter. The officer and Daniel struggle for a moment, then Padron stops moving. Jordy and LeMere immediately restrain Daniel, who is still on the floor.
Jordy's testimony to the jury filled in the details that the footage did not. After Daniel was taken down, he continued to struggle, Jordy said. Daniel still had the gun in his hand with his finger on the trigger, he said.
At that point, Daniel — who had already fired two shots — fired the gun again, Jordy said. That time, the bullet went toward the ceiling, he said.
The video shows Jordy grabbing the gun and tossing it aside. The gun slides a few feet across the floor. Jordy said he then took Padron's walkie-talkie and said something like "Officer down, need assistance."
After the shooting, Jordy said, Daniel "was giggling, basically smiling. I never heard him say a word."
The video shows several employees leaning over Padron, who Jordy said was bleeding profusely from the neck. He put his hands over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding, he said. Then, as other employees took over, Jordy rushed to the front door and locked it to prevent other customers from entering the store.
In the minutes after the incident, the video shows the arrival of several police officers.
Daniel is cuffed and removed from the store as an officer attempts to do CPR on the still motionless Padron.
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