Court documents reveal new details into fatal Austin shooting
(ABC 6 News) — Newly filed court documents have revealed new details in a fatal Austin shooting that left one man dead and another injured.
The shooting took place on Saturday, February 15 with law enforcement being dispatched at 1:35 p.m. to the area of 5th Avenue NW and 11th Street NW in Austin.
Related: Austin teen arrested in connection with shooting that left one dead
When officers responded, they found the driver, 27-year-old Opoka James Bot Lob Nathanael, still in the car. They pulled him out to provide medical care, but he was pronounced dead a short while later.
A later autopsy determined there were seven entry wounds in Nathanael’s body. All shots had entered from the back with several exit holes in the front, indicating he had been shot from the backseat.
Meanwhile, the front seat passenger had exited the vehicle and was transported to Mayo Clinic before later being flown to Saint Marys Hospital with gunshot wounds.
The court documents state that officers found the driver’s window broken and bullet casings inside the vehicle along with a bullet hole inside the driver’s door with no exit hole.
Testimony from multiple witnesses, surveillance video, and footprints leading away from the back passenger’s seat led officers towards a home on 5th Street NW.
Officers later executed a search warrant on the home where they found the clothes that the juvenile suspect was wearing in surveillance video before locating and taking the suspect into custody. The suspect did not wish to speak to officers.
In a later interview, the surviving victim told police he and Nathanael had picked up the suspect. He did not know the suspect, but Nathanael did.
The victim stated that the suspect got into the back seat, and there was no warning that there was going to be a shooting before he heard multiple shots and saw Nathanael had been shot repeatedly.
The victim said he was then shot twice and believed he was going to die, so he found someone to take him to the hospital. He said he did not know of any feuds that Nathanael was in but believed him to be the target since he was shot first.
The suspect is charged with 2nd-degree murder and attempted 2nd-degree murder. As a result, the state is requesting the suspect be moved to adult court on these charges with an additional charge of 1st-degree assault.
The hearing is set for March 12.