11-28-2014, 08:22 PM
Government/Police Buildings Attacked -- Suspect Killed -- Austin, TX.
The first 911 calls about gunshots came in at 2:22 a.m. Friday, with some reporting a "possible automatic weapon being fired" a few minutes later.
Very soon after that, police started to hear about gunfire near a recently opened federal courthouse and then at the city's nearby Mexican Consulate.
Police Chief Art Acevedo later said the suspect -- using small cylinders often used for camping -- is thought to have ignited a fire at the consulate, though those flames were extinguished before any extensive damage was done.
The police headquarters "came under attack" about 2:32 a.m., Acevedo said, at which time a sergeant with the department's mounted police unit happened to be outside, putting away horses.
"As he held two horses with one hand, he discharged ... at least one round with a single-handed shot," the chief said. "That would have been one heck of a shot. So part of our investigation will be whether the suspect died from our gunshot, from a self-inflicted gunshot or from a combination of both."
![[Image: 6058464_G.jpg]](http://kbmt.images.worldnow.com/images/6058464_G.jpg)
After the gunman, identified as 49-year-old Larry McQuilliam ^, went down, officers spotted "suspicious cylinders" inside his van. And when they dragged the gunman away, officers noticed "some type of vest on the suspect" -- something that Acevedo said could have been "simply a protective vest or potentially an IED suicide-type vest that is known to be used around the world."
Authorities immediately called in the bomb squad and closed off the surrounding area, including for a time stopping all traffic on a stretch of Interstate 35. A few hours later, they determined there were no explosives at the site. The suspect's residence "has been secured and is safe," according to Acevedo's twitter account.
Acevedo said that investigators, including FBI agents, "will be looking at everything," even social media accounts, to try to determine what the gunman was thinking.
Authorities have not offered a motive, but the police chief said that the shooter's "violent anti-government behavior" -- as evidenced by attacking buildings that belong to Mexico's government, the U.S. government and, in the police headquarters, the city government -- may have come from ongoing and often vitriolic debates in society.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/27499216/...own-austin
The first 911 calls about gunshots came in at 2:22 a.m. Friday, with some reporting a "possible automatic weapon being fired" a few minutes later.
Very soon after that, police started to hear about gunfire near a recently opened federal courthouse and then at the city's nearby Mexican Consulate.
Police Chief Art Acevedo later said the suspect -- using small cylinders often used for camping -- is thought to have ignited a fire at the consulate, though those flames were extinguished before any extensive damage was done.
The police headquarters "came under attack" about 2:32 a.m., Acevedo said, at which time a sergeant with the department's mounted police unit happened to be outside, putting away horses.
"As he held two horses with one hand, he discharged ... at least one round with a single-handed shot," the chief said. "That would have been one heck of a shot. So part of our investigation will be whether the suspect died from our gunshot, from a self-inflicted gunshot or from a combination of both."
After the gunman, identified as 49-year-old Larry McQuilliam ^, went down, officers spotted "suspicious cylinders" inside his van. And when they dragged the gunman away, officers noticed "some type of vest on the suspect" -- something that Acevedo said could have been "simply a protective vest or potentially an IED suicide-type vest that is known to be used around the world."
Authorities immediately called in the bomb squad and closed off the surrounding area, including for a time stopping all traffic on a stretch of Interstate 35. A few hours later, they determined there were no explosives at the site. The suspect's residence "has been secured and is safe," according to Acevedo's twitter account.
Acevedo said that investigators, including FBI agents, "will be looking at everything," even social media accounts, to try to determine what the gunman was thinking.
Authorities have not offered a motive, but the police chief said that the shooter's "violent anti-government behavior" -- as evidenced by attacking buildings that belong to Mexico's government, the U.S. government and, in the police headquarters, the city government -- may have come from ongoing and often vitriolic debates in society.
http://www.12newsnow.com/story/27499216/...own-austin