Stunned commuters watched Monday morning as an older Cadillac careened off the roadway into a utility pole, the driver slumped over with a gunshot wound after an apparent drive-by shooting.
A suspected shooter, described only as a Black male with short hair, sped away in a dark grey newer model Audi. Witnesses described the shooting as a possible “road rage incident,” according to Austin Police. The victim died at Dell Seton Hospital at 10:08 am, within an hour of the shooting.
In a news release and press briefing, APD identified the victim only as a male between the ages of 30 and 35. The shooting occurred near Cameron Road and Rutherford Lane, a commercial area.
Monday’s shooting comes nine days after another road rage shooting in northeast Austin on I-35 service road, which left dead 27-year-old Cornelia Lynn Moore, and within nine months of two other road rage murders.
Omar Munguia, 20, died on his way to the store in November 2020, and Miranda Lopez, 21, was shot dead after driving home from a dinner with her sister in December 2020. Austin Police in February 2021 charged two men in connection with those murders: Manuel Huerta, 21, and Jonathan Zavala, 33.
APD detectives said at a press conference that the murders “were over nothing,” and came after a spree of incidents in which the suspects drove recklessly behind victims’ vehicles, displayed handguns, and opened fire on other vehicles.
Austin increasingly is plagued by daredevil drivers who speed, cut vehicles off in traffic, pass on the shoulder, and sometimes draw handguns on other drivers. In addition to the four killings, several non-lethal shootings have been reported.
(Related video: “Met some really hostile idiots the other day driving on I-35”)
The Austin Police Department recently suspended its motors unit, which specialized in traffic enforcement, as well as its DWI unit, due to staffing shortages. Patrol units are still enforcing traffic violations, but their more urgent priority is to respond to 9-1-1 calls.
Deadly Corridor
Monday’s murder also marks the latest killing in the Cameron Road/Dessau Road corridor, which is rapidly becoming one of the deadliest parts of the city.
At least four people were murdered along that road so far this year, including a shooting at a gas station last week, a fatal stabbing at an apartment complex June 27, a murder at another gas station July 27, and another fatal stabbing February 16. A fifth victim was found at an apartment on Dessau Road, though the violence leading to his death occurred elsewhere.
Cameron Road runs parallel to I-35 for a distance of 3.5 miles from E. 51st Street to Rundberg Lane, where the road become Dessau Road and continues another 9 miles into Pflugerville.
In addition to the murders, the corridor has seen several recent non-fatal shootings, such as one in July that left two people wounded at an apartment complex, and one in March that left four people wounded. Several murder suspects have also been arrested in the area, including a suspect in the road rage murder earlier this month. He was taken into custody after a standoff with a SWAT team at an apartment near East Howard Lane and Dessau Road.
The area is part of two council districts, D4 represented by Greg Casar, and D1 represented by Natasha Harper-Madison.
Murder Toll Passes 1984 Record
Monday’s homicide was Austin’s 61st of the year. That’s two more than the previous all-time high set in 1984 and 14 more than last year’s total. with 3.5 months left in the year.
Police Chief Joe Chacon told journalists on a teleconference Monday, “We still have three and a half months to go this year, so unfortunately I think this trend might continue – probably will continue.” Chacon also described three factors that he believed were driving the rise in murders.
Of the 61 homicides so far this year, 49 have been solved. Detectives have “very solid leads” in several other cases, according to Chacon.
