COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A 26-year-old College Station man was shot twice by a single officer responding to several 911 calls of the man being violent towards his family, said police.
The day started as a sleepy, typical morning for residents in the cul-de-sac on Pebble Creek when sounds of gunfire rang out around 6 a.m.
“I was still in bed," said Brian Bochner, resident of Pebble Creek. "I had just awakened, and I heard five or six shots being fired.”
Bochner lives just a few houses down from the home where the incident occurred.
“Dispatch was able to reconnect with the caller and learn that a member of the caller’s household was having hallucinations and being violent," College Station Police Chief Billy Couch said during a media briefing early Monday afternoon.
Police say when the officer arrived on the scene, the man exited his front door, wielding a hatchet.
“The man began walking towards the officer and the officer continually gave commands to drop the hatchet as the officer began to back away and create distance," Couch said. "The male made it to the roadway and began running at the officer.”
The officer fired at the subject, shooting him twice in his chest. The subject then threw his hatchet at the officer, striking the officer’s leg.
Both officer and subject were hospitalized. The officer was treated and released, and the subject remains in the hospital in stable condition.
The Texas Rangers will be investigating the incident as a third-party entity.
According to the Texas Attorney General's Office there were 180 separate reports of statewide shootings last year of officers with firearms causing injury or death.
Among those shootings, 112 led to deaths.
Data also shows that 28 officers were hurt during that time, and another 3 were killed.
We took a look through records from the Texas Attorney General's Office to see how often shootings involving officers happen in our state.
Last year, law enforcement departments across the state reported 180 officer-involved shootings.
That's lower than previous years --- with 194 reported in 2020 and 199 in 2019.
But we saw fewer of these incidents in 2018 and 2017.
