The Austin Police Department (APD) is still piecing together the details of a deadly officer-involved shooting that rocked the Summer Grove apartment complex late last month. On April 27, Thomas Dray Price was fatally shot by APD officers after he allegedly brandished a firearm and ignored commands to drop the weapon.
According to an incident report released yesterday, Officers Adam Reinhart and Kai Finch responded to 911 calls about a man with a gun and discharged their weapons when Price allegedly pointed his firearm at them. Reinhart, a four-year veteran, and Finch, with one year and five months under his belt, have been put on administrative leave, a standard procedure following such incidents. Officer Peter Miller's body-cam captured the event but, he is not being investigated in relation to the shooting.
Residents at 7905 San Felipe Boulevard were startled by the sound of gunfire around 12:14 a.m. that fateful night, and the officers arrived eight minutes later, scouring the apartment complex for the reported gunman and potential victims. They encountered several individuals who pointed them in the direction of the suspect's last spotted location.
Per a press release from APD, at approximately 12:35 a.m., they faced Price emerging from a building holding a gun, ignoring their commands in both English and Spanish. After a confrontation where the officers reportedly ordered him to surrender the weapon, Price was shot and later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
While the incident remains under investigation, the APD has made body-cam footage available for public viewing in an effort to maintain transparency. This includes comprehensive video clips from the officers involved that, "do not always capture everything the officer or witnesses saw or experienced during the incident," but are crucial in understanding the sequence of events. The materials also contain 911 audio recordings and police radio traffic from that night, all available on the Department's YouTube channel.
With the investigation ongoing, APD is calling for anyone with additional information to step forward. Witnesses can contact the APD’s Special Investigation Unit or Capitol Area Crime Stoppers, where tips can be submitted anonymously.
