AUSTIN, Texas – A man seen pouring lighter fluid around an Austin, Texas, convenience store and then making a homemade bomb during an hourslong standoff was fatally shot by an officer, according to police.
The man, whose name was not released, was armed and had entered the store just after 12:30 p.m. Tuesday after police saw him driving a reportedly stolen vehicle, according to interim Police Chief Robin Henderson.
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Officers went into the store, but backed out after the man refused to obey their order to drop the gun and leave, Henderson said. An employee who had fled told them another employee was inside a locked office in the store.
The man fired several times at police, who later observed him pouring lighter fluid on a counter and around the store, according to Henderson.
Shortly before 5 p.m., Henderson said, police saw the man making a homemade bomb, commonly known as a Molotov cocktail.
“Officers determined the suspect's incendiary device, especially if used in the area where the suspect had poured the lighter fluid, posed an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury to the employee still trapped inside the store,” and one officer shot the man, Henderson said.
The suspect was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, Henderson said. No one else was injured in the shooting or the standoff.
Henderson said the officer, who has not been identified, is now on leave while police and the district attorney’s office investigate the shooting.