Several dead in shootings across Texas

A man suspected of killing several people in a series of shootings in Austin, Texas, was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with capital murder and other charges, police said.

Robin Henderson, interim chief of the Austin Police Department, announced the details of the shooting at a news conference early Wednesday morning. She said police had not determined the incidents were related until Tuesday evening.

“The nature of any relationship between the victims and the suspect is unknown,” Chief Commissioner Henderson said.

The suspect, who was not identified, may also be linked to a separate homicide investigation further south in Bexar County, she added.

The first shooting occurred Tuesday morning, when the suspect shot and wounded an Austin school district officer, Chief Henderson said.

Austin police said Tuesday that Northeast Early College High School had been posted in lockdown after shots were heard in the area. School district police chief Wayne Sneed told reporters that the injured officer was in stable condition after being shot in the leg.

The second shooting, a double homicide of a man and a woman, happened later Tuesday morning in an area south of the first, Chief Henderson said.

In the third incident, a male cyclist said he had been shot Tuesday afternoon, Chief Henderson said. His injuries were not life-threatening.

And on Tuesday evening, she said, officers responding to a call about a burglary found the suspect in the backyard of the home. The suspect shot at an officer, who returned fire and suffered multiple gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening. The suspect later fled in a car and crashed as police chased him.

As the chase unfolded, Chief Henderson said, other officers entered the home and found the bodies of two people. The department believes the suspect was also linked to those deaths, she said.

Austin police did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment Tuesday evening.

Austin Independent School District police declined to comment, though they said so A message to the school community that more than 1,200 students and staff were brought to safety during the shooting incident on Tuesday morning.

Separately, authorities in Bexar County, which includes the city of San Antonio, said Tuesday that the Austin suspect may be involved in the deaths of two people in the San Antonio area on Tuesday morning. San Antonio is located about 80 miles southwest of Austin.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said San Antonio-area police found two bodies in a home there after learning from Austin police that the suspect, a man in his 30s, had ties to the House.

“He has ties to this house, but I’m not entirely sure what his relationship, if any, is to the people here in this house,” said Sheriff Salazar. told reporters on site Tuesday evening.