Austin: District attorney won't take action against three officers who stopped Sunday's shooting

Body camera video of the officers who stopped the mass shooting outside Buford's Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, Texas, is scheduled to be released this Thursday, the Austin Police Department (APD) announced.

The incident occurred early last Sunday, when the suspect Ndiaga Diagne, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Senegal, opened fire from his vehicle and then on foot, killing three people and wounding at least 13 others.

Three APD officers quickly responded, confronted the suspect and killed him on the scene.

Review of shooting concludes

Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza announced Wednesday that he will not take action against the three officers, and will not present them to a grand jury or seek charges.

"Today, the Travis County District Attorney’s Office notified the Austin Police Department that it has formally concluded its review of the mass shooting on 6th Street and will take no action against the three officers who stopped the shooting," the statement said.

In a previous note, Garza noted that "the officers stopped the shooting" and called them "heroes," thus denying rumors spread on social media about possible charges against them.

Judicial reform or persecution of agents?

According to a directive issued by Garza's office in 2021, any officer-involved shooting must be submitted for grand jury consideration.

Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock, told Fox News Digital, "The reality is APD officers are more afraid of the D.A. targeting them than a gunman shooting at them."

Doug O'Connell, an attorney for the Austin officers, told Fox that the 2021 policy was adopted at the direction of the Wren Collective, a judicial reform group that, according to the media outlet, funds progressive prosecutors.

"When our current district attorney came into office about six years ago, he instituted this policy at the direction of the Wren Collective, and it's been in place since that time. Every officer-involved shooting has been presented to the grand jury," the attorney said. "It's not required by law. It is simply a policy decision that he's instituted at the direction of Wren Collective."

Bullock told Fox that Wren Collective has recently pushed "to increase the number of indictments against officers which can only be done through grand jury."