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Austin Police are investigating two double homicides and a separate stabbing death that occurred over the weekend in Austin. (Austonia file photo)
Austin police are now investigating two double homicides and a separate stabbing death after a "violent weekend" left five dead in the city.
The latest victim in a Sunday night shooting was declared dead Monday afternoon after they were sent to the hospital in critical condition. The shooting left another dead at the scene near the I-35 Frontage Road near Delmar Avenue at around 10:30 p.m. Sunday. Both deaths come after a double homicide and separate stabbing death that took place on Saturday.
No suspect description or arrest has been made for the Saturday night stabbing. The suspect for the Saturday double homicide has been identified as 31-year-old Yong Yoon Kim, who called police after shooting and killing 19-year-olds Nathan Limoge and Christopher Rivers at 11:45 a.m. in a parking lot at Burnet Road & Anderson Lane.
APD News Release: Homicide Investigation at 7797 Burnet Rd. - https://t.co/yq8WrxBqRxpic.twitter.com/pjQ4AKVWny
— Austin Police Department (@Austin_Police) January 24, 2022
Kim told police that he acted in self-defense, but police have charged Kim with capital murder and booked him into the Travis County Jail with no bond due to "contrary accounts" from eyewitnesses on the scene.
Hours earlier, the first homicide of the weekend occurred when Michael Martin O'Brien was stabbed and found by Austin-Travis County EMS with life-threatening injuries on the 400 block of E. 6th St. at around 2:47 a.m. Saturday. O'Brien died due to multiple stab wounds later that morning.
Police have been told that the stabbing occurred after a fight broke out in a nearby alley. No suspect has been identified, but homicide detectives have been told by several witnesses that a white man wearing a black jacket, blue jeans and a red baseball cap fled the scene as police arrived.
“Unfortunately, this has been a rather violent weekend here in Austin that has resulted in multiple homicides having occurred over the weekend,” APD's Michael Bullock said told the media Monday.
Before this weekend, Austin had three reported homicides for 2022. Now, the number has risen to eight, higher than the total for all of January 2021. Austin had five homicides for all of January 2021 in a year that saw record-breaking homicide numbers and near-record homicide rates.
Police are asking anyone with information or videos of the incidents to email homicide.apd@austintexas.gov, call the Crime Stoppers tip line at 512-472-8477 or use the Crime Stoppers app. Tips can be anonymous, and police said those that give information that leads to an arrest for the Saturday stabbing could receive a reward of up to $1,000.
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Popular
(Jordan Vonderhaar/The Texas Tribune)
The Texas Senate Democratic Caucus is urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call an emergency special legislative session to consider a variety of gun restrictions and safety measures in the wake of a mass school shooting in Uvalde that left 19 children and two adults dead this week.
In a letter released Saturday morning, all 13 Senate Democrats demanded lawmakers pass legislation that raises the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 years old. The Uvalde gunman was 18 and had purchased two AR-style rifles which he used in the attack.
The caucus is also calling for universal background checks for all firearm sales, “red flag” laws that allow a judge to temporarily remove firearms from people who are considered an imminent threat to themselves or others, a “cooling off period” for the purchase of a firearm and regulations on high capacity magazines for citizens.
“Texas has suffered more mass shootings over the past decade than any other state. In Sutherland Springs, 26 people died. At Santa Fe High School outside Houston, 10 people died. In El Paso, 23 people died at a Walmart. Seven people died in Midland-Odessa,” the letter reads. “After each of these mass killings, you have held press conferences and roundtables promising things would change. After the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, those broken promises have never rung more hollow. The time to take real action is now.”
Such laws are unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has a track record of favoring legislation that loosens gun restrictions. Only the governor has the power to call lawmakers back into a special session for emergency work.
Asked about a special session at a Friday press conference in Uvalde, Abbott said “all options are on the table” adding that he believed laws would ultimately be passed to address this week’s horrors. However, he suggested laws would be more tailored toward addressing mental health, rather than gun control.
“You can expect robust discussion and my hope is laws are passed, that I will sign, addressing health care in this state,” he said, “That status quo is unacceptable. This crime is unacceptable. We’re not going to be here and do nothing about it.”
He resisted the idea of increasing the age to purchase a firearm, saying that since Texas became a state, 18-year-olds have been able to buy a gun.
He also dismissed universal background checks saying existing background check policies did not prevent the Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs shootings, which both happened while he has been in office.
“If everyone wants to seize upon a particular strategy and say that’s the golden strategy right there, look at what happened in the Santa Fe shooting,” he said. “A background check had no relevance because the shooter took the gun from his parents…Anyone who suggests we should focus on background checks as opposed to mental health, I suggest is mistaken.”
Since the massacre at Robb Elementary School, the governor’s comments about potential solutions have centered around increasing mental health services, rather than restricting access to firearms.
This story has been edited for length.
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(Project Connect)
Designs for stations along Project Connect’s Blue Line were presented this week, giving a detailed look at what part of the rail system extending from downtown to the airport could look like.
The planned stations that have gotten the latest focus include Waterfront, Travis Heights and Lakeshore stations past Lady Bird Lake.
At the Waterfront station, the preliminary design aims to prevent visual obstructions and save on costs. This is accomplished by a transit guideway that will lower from the bridge to a level station.
Heading onto East Riverside Drive, the light rail faces a curve requiring a slow down to about 10 miles per hour.
The Travis Heights station could involve relocating a pedestrian crosswalk zone at Alameda Drive to Blunn Creek. Since light rails can't effectively operate on a steep grade, this allows the transit guideway to avoid that.
From there, the rail will extend to the Norwood Park area, and though it will reach along the right-of-way zone, the park will be able to remain open.
A view of the Blue Line by Lady Bird Lake. (Project Connect)
The line involves some coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation. That's because the department is working on an intersection that will have to be built before the phasing of the section of the Blue Line involving an I-35 crossing.
When it comes to the safety of cyclists and walkers, design ideas include a pedestrian hybrid beacon by East Bouldin Creek that would provide a protected signal to cross. And for the intersection TxDOT is carrying out, Project Connect is working with them on pedestrian access across the intersection. It could involve shared use paths along the street and crossings beneath it.
This summer, the public can expect 30% of design and cost estimates to be released. Though the project was $7.1 billion when voters approved it in November 2020, the latest estimates factoring in inflation and supply chain constraints show it could ultimately be upwards of $10 billion.
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