The driver accused of shooting Garrett Foster “intentionally and aggressively accelerated his vehicle against a crowd of people” before the shots rang out, James Sasinowski said.
“I want to make it very clear that the driver incited violence: He accelerated through the crowd and fired first,” said Sasinowski.
Foster, 28, was marching with other protesters during a protest in downtown Austin in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Saturday night when he was shot.
Witnesses gave many accounts, including that the disturbance began when the vehicle started honking, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley said. Witnesses also told police that Foster approached the car with an AK-47 assault rifle, while others in the crowd began to hit the vehicle.
Sasinowski said he doesn’t know if Foster pointed his gun at the driver and has not heard any of the other witnesses say that it happened.
But, he said, the driver started the meeting.
“This was intentional. It was aggressive and accelerated in a crowd of protesters,” said Sasinowski. “He could have waited for us to pass or he could have gone slowly. We would have allowed him to pass.”
Police responded to a 911 call Saturday in which the caller stated that he had shot someone who had approached the window of his car and pointed a rifle at them, Manley said.
When officers arrived, resuscitation efforts began at Foster, but he died shortly afterward at a local hospital, Manley said.
There will be an autopsy to determine the official cause and form of Foster’s death as the investigation continues, Austin police said.
The driver accused of shooting Foster was taken by police for questioning, and his gun and car were secured as evidence, police said. Another person who shot his gun at the car was brought in for questioning. Both had a concealed firearms license and were released pending further investigation.
Austin Police Association President Kenneth Casaday tweeted that Foster was “looking for a confrontation and found it,” a position he held Monday when speaking to CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
“Maybe in hindsight it wasn’t the best I could do, but I stick with what I did … I think it was the best the community knew at the time,” Casaday said.
Casaday said Foster had been protesting outside the city manager’s house with a rifle.
“It looks like you’re fighting when you’re standing in front of the city manager’s house intimidating them,” Casaday said.
CNN’s Noah Broder contributed to this report.
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