AUSTIN, Texas – It was not unusual for Garrett Foster to be at a protest against police brutality on a Saturday night. And it was not out of place for him to be armed as he marched.
Mr. Foster was carrying an AK-47 rifle when he joined the Black Lives Matter demonstration blocks at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas. Supporters of gun rights, on both the left and the right, often carry rifles in protests in Texas, a state whose liberal laws allow.
Mr. Foster, dressed in a black scarf and baseball cap, ran into a freelance journalist at the Saturday march, and spoke quite naturally about the weapon that had a strap in front of him.
“They no longer let us march on the streets, so I was able to practice some of our rights,” Foster told journalist Hiram Gilberto García, who was broadcasting the interview live on Periscope. “If I use it against the police, I’m dead,” he acknowledged.
Later that night, Mr. Foster was shot dead, but not by the police. Authorities said he was killed by a motorist who had threatened protesters with his car.
Police and witnesses said the man in the car aggressively turned him toward the protesters, and Mr. Foster approached. The driver opened fire and shot Mr. Foster, who was rushed to a hospital and was later pronounced dead.
The shooting stunned a capital city where protests and marches are a proud and common tradition. By Sunday, Austin police officers had revealed few details about the shooting or the motive, or whether prosecutors planned to press charges against the unidentified motorist, who was detained and has been cooperating with authorities. A GoFundMe page to help Mr. Foster’s family members with their funeral expenses had already raised nearly $ 50,000 on Sunday afternoon.
Garcia, the freelance journalist, filmed numerous Austin protests in recent weeks and captured the chaotic moments of the filming live on video. Protesters are seen marching through an intersection when a car honks its horn. Protesters seem to converge around the car when a man yells, “Everyone back up.” At that instant, five shots ring out, followed shortly by several more punches that echo in the downtown streets.
Mr. Foster, who had served in the military, was armed but was not seeking trouble on the march, family members and witnesses told reporters. At the time of the shooting, Mr. Foster was pushing his fiance through an intersection in his wheelchair.
Mr. Foster and his fiancee, Whitney Mitchell, had participated in protests against police brutality in Austin every day since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Mr. Foster is white, and Mrs. Mitchell, who is a quadruple amputee, is African American. She was not injured in the shooting.
“He was doing it because he has great confidence in justice and is very much against police brutality, and he wanted to support his fiancé,” Mr. Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, said in an interview with “Good Morning America.” She added that she was not surprised that he was armed while on the march.
“He has a license to carry, and he would have felt the need to protect himself,” said Foster.
In Texas, it is legal to carry rifles, shotguns, and other long weapons on the street without a permit, as long as the weapons are not brandished in a threatening manner.
The shooting occurred shortly before 10 p.m. at the intersection of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue.
Michael Capochiano, a witness, said he was marching with other protesters when he saw a motorist honk his horn and turn into the crowd, forcing people to disperse.
“You could hear the screeching of the wheels hitting the gas so fast,” said Mr. Capochiano, 53, a restaurant accountant. “I am a little surprised that no one has been hit. He was driving at an aggressive speed towards the crowd. “
The car stopped after turning from Fourth Street to Congress Avenue and appeared to collide with a traffic tower. As people yelled furiously at the driver, Mr. Foster walked to the car, with the muzzle of the rifle pointed down, he said.
“He was not pointing the gun or doing anything aggressive with the gun,” Capochiano said. “I wasn’t holding it aggressively.” He added: “I am not sure if there was a lot of exchange of words. It wasn’t as if there was some kind of verbal altercation. I wasn’t charging against the car. He was just walking around there.
Mr. Capochiano, who was standing near the back of the car, said he saw a gun come out of the driver’s window and heard several shots.
“I saw him fall,” he said of Mr. Foster. “I heard people scream, ‘He has a gun, come down.’ As far as I know, he just shot the victim. I feel like he was just shooting that guy.”
David Montgomery reported from Austin and Manny Fernández from Houston. Bryan Pietsch contributed reporting from Andover, Minnesota.
