A Black Lives Matter protester was gunned down by a motorist at a demonstration in Austin, Texas on Saturday night.
Witnesses say Garrett Foster, 27, was killed after he reportedly pointed an AK-47 at a driver who was blocked by demonstrators in the roadway. The driver shot Foster with a handgun before he sped off.
Foster was pushing his fiancee Whitney Mitchell in a wheelchair in downtown Austin in the moments before he was shot. Mitchell, a quadruple amputee have dated since they were 17.
A grainy photo circulating on Twitter.com shows Foster with his AK-47 near the driver’s side window of the vehicle. Whitney is not seen in the photo.
The pictures the left is showing you of Garrett Foster are with his fiancee and looking calm and peaceful. I posted a video of him explaining why he had a rifle and here's a picture circulating appearing to show him pointing said rifle at the motorist. pic.twitter.com/DRvhbJN9Rg
— Joe Pags Pagliarulo (@JoeTalkShow) July 27, 2020
Austin police confirmed a 911 caller told the dispatcher he was just involved in a shooting after 10 p.m. on Saturday. The caller said he shot a man who approached his vehicle and pointed an assault rifle at him.
The caller was instructed to park his vehicle and an officer would be dispatched, according to Austin police.
Officers arrived and brought the caller to the homicide division where he was interviewed. His handgun and vehicle were secured as evidence.
BREAKING: APD Chief Brian Manley says Garrett Foster had multiple gunshot wounds. The person who shot Foster called 911 to report that someone had pointed a gun at his vehicle and that he fired. Manley says Foster had AK-47 and that it appears as though Foster pointed gun at car.
— Tony Plohetski (@tplohetski) July 26, 2020
Officers at the scene of the shooting spoke with witnesses and received several different versions of the incident.
Police spoke with another individual who said he heard the first volley of gunshots and observed the vehicle speeding away.
The witness said he drew his handgun and fired at the fleeing vehicle. His handgun was also taken into evidence and he is cooperating with police.
Both individuals were released by police. Both men had valid carry/conceal licenses.
Cell phone video captured the sounds of the shooting. Gunfire from a semi-automatic rifle can be heard, then a brief pause followed by several shots from a small caliber weapon.
Reddit.com users identified the first shots as gunfire from a semi-automatic rifle similar to an AK-47.
A police officer is seen securing the Ak-47 in another cellphone video after the shooting.
Foster was interviewed moments before he was killed. He said he was licensed to carry a weapon and that he carried the AK-47 to protect himself. “They don’t let us march in the streets anymore, so I’ve gotta practice some of our rights,” Foster said in the video.
When asked if he planned to use the weapon, Foster said, “Nah… If I use it against the cops, I’m dead. I think all the people that hate us and want to say sh** to us are too big of pussies to stop and actually do anything about it.”
Garrett Foster, the Black Lives Matter supporter who was shot and killed tonight in Austin, TX, was interviewed with his AK47.
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 26, 2020
Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, told ABC News her son and his fiancee were demonstrating in the street, when the driver, “got out of his car and started firing shots, and my son was shot three times.”
An unidentified protester told a reporter, “A car drove up. We were taking the streets, and he shot Garrett. Garrett is the husband of Whitney, a quadriplegic in a wheelchair, and he is her caretaker and has been for like 10 years. They’ve been out here for … all 50 days so far.”
Other witnesses described a blue car “swerving” into the crowd of demonstrators. Some of the protesters pounded on the trunk of the car. No one mentioned Foster firing the AK-47 in the seconds before he was killed.
Foster’s friends and family say he is a hero for protecting his girlfriend.
In a Facebook post, Foster appeared to approve of three federal officers suffering permanent blindness after BLM rioters pointed lasers at their eyes.
“They’re cops it doesn’t matter,” he wrote.
Garrett Foster was murdered last night peacefully protesting at a BLACK LIVES MATTER protest in Austin, Texas with his fiance, whitney, who is a quadruple amputee because of serious medical negligence.
She was thrown off her wheelchair and he was shot 3 times.
SAY HIS NAME ? pic.twitter.com/q13r3JR35u
— StanceGrounded (@_SJPeace_) July 26, 2020
Copyright Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the photograph(s) or video(s) used in this post. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” of photographs for purposes such as parody, criticism, commentary, news reporting, education, and research.
