Austin, Texas police officers responded to a call of a man acting erratically outside of his home. The homeowner, carrying an AR pattern rifle, fired two shots into his own home as APD officers rolled up. Subsequent reports claim the man thought his home has been burglarized.
The responding officers likely heard the second shot as they arrived. Moments later, one of the cops yelled for the man, Rajan Moonesinghe, to “throw the gun” then, without pausing, the officer, armed with a patrol rifle, immediately opens fire.
The officer fired three times in the initial volley, then paused as the homeowner dropped the rifle. Then the officer fired two more shots as the homeowner began to raise his hands in surrender.
Home security and bodycam video begin at the 4:58 mark in the video below . . .
The cop doing the shooting then offered an excited utterance of “Oh dammit,” as if he realized he’d screwed up by firing too soon, or perhaps by firing after the homeowner did as he commanded, dropping the rifle.
Either way Moonesinghe died of his wounds.
Fox7Austin has the story . . .
Austin police released body camera video, Ring camera video, and the 911 call of an officer-involved shooting that left a man dead in South Austin.
Rajan Moonesinghe was shot to death outside his home on South 3rd Street near Oltorf just after midnight on Nov. 15.
“He almost seems to be scared of something inside his home,” the 911 caller said. Later in the call, the caller says, “…approached me earlier today saying he saw two suspicious people earlier.”
The story continues with a press release from the brother of the man who was shot by police.
Johann Moonesinghe, Rajan’s brother, released the following statement:
“Yesterday, I had the opportunity to view the police footage and security footage of the last minutes of my brother’s life. As difficult as that was, it was an incredibly important step towards finding out the truth of the events leading up to his murder by police on November 15, 2022. The video clearly shows that Raj never threatened the officers, he didn’t even know they were there. I’d encourage everyone to watch the videos being released today to make their own judgments. Thank goodness Raj had his Ring security camera on his porch because, without it, the police would have continued to lie about what happened that night.
After watching the video, it is evident that the officer who shot Raj did this without identifying himself, without thinking, and before giving my brother a chance to explain who he was and why he was outside. Instead, he arrived without flashing lights or sirens, pulled out an assault rifle, took a hidden defensive position behind a fence 25 yards away, and killed my brother. He began firing before finishing his command to ‘drop your gun’ and continued to fire once Raj had dropped his gun and put his hands up, and continued to fire once Raj had dropped his gun and put his hands up. It’s clear from the security footage that Raj didn’t even know the police officer was there. His last words as he lay on the ground were ‘it wasn’t me.’
Instead of getting justice for Raj, the Austin Police Department continues with its attempts to cover up what happened. The security footage they released today is an edited version that intentionally removes the interaction that Raj had with his neighbor one-minute beforehand where he told her there was someone in his house and yelled into his home, ‘I’m calling the police, get out of my house.’
It is beyond comprehension that the police acted this way. The police knew he was the homeowner concerned with a potential intruder. They shot first and asked questions later. As an Austinite myself, I’m outraged to think that these are the people tasked with protecting our community.
Raj was a loving son who took care of our parents financially and the co-founder of a very successful tech company which we moved to Austin in 2018. We ask the City and the District Attorney to do their jobs and hold the officer accountable. Otherwise, these senseless shootings will continue, and more innocent people will be shot and killed by Austin police officers.”
Obviously the Austin PD is investigating the incident. What’s more, a substantial lawsuit seems to be in the department’s and city’s future.
From the video as presented, it looks like the officer might have jeopardized his career and possibly his freedom with a quick decision to open fire that night. And given the Soros-backed Travis County District Attorney’s adversarial relationship with the APD, the officer involved had better have a very good attorney.
