Austin Police called in the SWAT team Tuesday afternoon after a 911 call reported a possible barricaded subject in the 8100 block of Cameron Road near Rutherford Lane, in a commercial corridor of Northeast Austin. The call came in around 3:47 p.m.; police said the individual may have been inside a vehicle, though that was unconfirmed.
According to CBS Austin, police initially reported possible vehicle involvement, though that information was unconfirmed. The outlet reported that officers had not announced any road closures and had no additional details available about what led up to the standoff. The station described the situation as a developing story as the SWAT team made its way to the location.
A Busy Commercial and Civic Corridor
The address sits within a six-acre office complex that serves as the Central Texas regional operations headquarters for grocery chain H-E-B, according to MySA. Just blocks away, the City of Austin operates its municipal Rutherford Campus at 1520 Rutherford Lane, a complex the city has planned to redevelop into a consolidated public safety facility housing police, fire and emergency medical services, per Community Impact.
Redevelopment plans for the Rutherford Campus have included possible coordination with the neighboring Asian American Resource Center at 8401 Cameron Road.
Why SWAT and Negotiators Respond Together
The SWAT team and the Critical Incident Negotiation Team routinely coordinate and respond together during virtually all crisis-negotiation call-outs, according to Police Magazine. CINT, formed in the mid-1980s, averages 20 to 30 standoff call-outs a year and relies on de-escalation tactics to resolve barricaded subject and hostage scenarios peacefully.
If the individual did flee or attempt to evade officers using a vehicle, Texas law carries steep consequences. Under Texas Penal Code Section 38.04, using a motor vehicle to flee or evade law enforcement makes the offense a state jail felony if the person has no prior evading conviction, and a third-degree felony if the person has a prior evading conviction; the latter is punishable by two to 10 years in state prison and fines up to $10,000, according to FindLaw. No charges had been confirmed in connection with Tuesday's incident.
Other Austin SWAT Incidents
Other SWAT deployments have also occurred in Austin. A separate standoff on Ferguson Lane involved a man barricaded inside a home following an alleged armed assault, according to KVUE. A separate SWAT response also took place in North Austin in August.
Other Austin SWAT deployments this year have included a South Austin gun standoff and an August North Austin response. As of Tuesday evening, Austin Police had not released further details about the circumstances surrounding the Cameron Road incident, and this remains a developing story.
