In Texas, police are issued a state-wide manhunt for a former deputy sheriff after three people were shot dead.
On April 18, the police locked down the area of an apartment building in Austin where the shooting incident happened.
According to Austin’s interim police chief Joseph Chacon, the suspect is a 41-year-old former deputy sheriff named Stephen Broderick.
While it is not classified as a ‘mass shooting’ due to the fact that casualties don’t involve four or more people, the incident came amid a series of similar devastating events that happened in the US over the last month.
Earlier this year, the Gun Violence Archive has already reported a total of 152 mass shootings, 45 of those happened last month between the Atlanta spa shootings, as well as shootings at a FedEx building in Indiana which left eight people killed.
Reuters reported that police launched a manhunt for Broderick, but lifted the lockdown in the building on Sunday afternoon after knowing that the shooting was domestic in nature, and not an active shooter situation.
Police Chief Chacon said in a statement that officers responded to a 911 call at 11:42 am and reported the incident.
A reverse 911 report was also made to area residents to let them know about what’s happening and urged them to stay inside their apartments.
The casualties involved a man and two women. A child that was involved in the incident was found safe by the police and taken into custody.
“Obviously this is a tragedy. We have people who have lost their lives here,” Chacon told Austin-American Statesman. “We’ll do our best to get this person in custody and hopefully with no more loss of life.”
Chacon said that the three victims were known to Broderick, and urged area residents to stay vigilant because the suspect is considered to be ‘armed and very much dangerous’.
Chacon added that Broderick was a former detective for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office in Austin.
Broderick was reportedly placed on administrative leave last year after being charged with a sexual assault of a child, and later on, resigned from the department after the arrest.