Every shooting involving a police officer in Travis County for the past several years has gone before a grand jury — a policy that District Attorney José Garza has said ensures transparency.
But after several police officers took down the gunman in a mass shooting in downtown Austin early Sunday, Republican politicians and law enforcement advocates began hammering Garza’s office over the idea that the officers could face possible criminal charges.
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“The situation is an extraordinary circumstance,” said Michael Bullock, president of the Austin Police Association. “These officers have been through enough, and anything can happen in a grand jury.”
Gov. Greg Abbott also weighed in during what became an all-day social media controversy: “These police officers are heroes who saved lives. Whatever the DA does, I will have the final say in the fate of these police officers,” Abbott posted.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, Garza echoed Abbott’s assessment of the officers and indicated that he would make an exception to the grand jury policy for officer involved shootings.
“These officers are heroes, and it should go without saying that my office is not seeking any charges and would not seek charges,” Garza wrote. “The accounts to the contrary are false, intentionally false, and are being peddled for obvious political purposes. We are proud to work with our partners at the Austin Police Department every day and are so grateful for the bravery that these officers showed.”
The gunman opened fire outside a bar in Austin’s West Sixth Street entertainment district shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday, killing three people and injuring 13 others before responding officers shot and killed him.
The officers and other first responders have been praised for their quick response: paramedics and police arrived within a minute of the first 911 call.
But on Tuesday, social media erupted with speculation that Garza’s office would put the officers before a grand jury to evaluate their actions, following the DA’s usual practice.
Douglas O’ Connell, an attorney for the APA, said on social media that he would represent the officers through the grand jury process, which drew an immediate negative reaction from various state lawmakers.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz called the idea of putting the officers before a grand jury insane, while Pam Madere, board president of the Central Texas Public Safety Commission, voiced her support for the officers and strongly encouraged Garza not to follow his usual policy.
“The officers who rushed to save countless lives are heroes to the Austin community and beyond. While it has been long-standing policy for officer-involved shootings to be referred to the grand jury, the district attorney has complete discretion on whether or not to take that step,” she said.
Garza’s statement chastised those engaging in online speculation about what his office would do in this case.
“We also grieve with our community members who lost loved ones during this horrendous act of violence and are disgusted by the leaders in Texas using their deaths to score political points,” Garza said.
District attorneys in Travis County have gone back and forth on the use of grand juries following police shootings. Margaret Moore, the district attorney before Garza, said she would only take cases to grand juries if she believed an officer involved shooting was unlawful or if the facts about what happened were in dispute, a change from her predecessor, who took all such cases before the grand jury.
Garza, who ran on a criminal justice reform platform in the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 death at the hands of police in Minneapolis, promised to end the over-prosecution of lower-income residents and people of color, and has often used grand juries to evaluate use-of-force cases.
When Garza became the DA in 2021, his office indicted multiple Austin police officers, two county deputies, an assistant county attorney, and a sheriff, leading to a rocky relationship between his office and local law enforcement.
The police union and some local activists have accused Garza of jeopardizing the safety of Austinites by targeting law enforcement for prosecution, making it hard for them to do their jobs.
In 2024, a Travis County resident attempted to remove Garza from office under a 2023 Texas law aimed at limiting the discretion of locally elected prosecutors and “holding rogue district attorneys accountable,” citing his prosecution of law enforcement officials and the presentation of officer involved shooting cases to grand juries.
Garza’s supporters say he is doing more to hold police accountable and is implementing needed reforms to the criminal justice system.
“We are committed to continuing to ensure that there is public oversight of excessive force cases,” Garza told the Austin American-Statesman in 2024 when asked if he would continue to bring police officers before grand juries.