On July 23, 10100 Baden Lane was just a small park with a couple of slides. But by the next day, it had transformed into a memorial for 17-year-old Anthoniel Williams II, after he was fatally shot by police officers. His death has sparked rage, tears and questions. But how did we get here? What choices brought these four people to this park? And could it have been avoided?
\nHere’s what we know about the events of July 24. At 3:51 am, someone calls 911 reporting that a teenager is brandishing a gun at a park on Baden Lane. Police discover later that this caller is actually Williams.
\nAt 3:55, a security camera shows Williams walking to the park and waiting there.
\nPolice arrive at 4:01. They ask Williams to keep his hands up, and if he’s alright. Williams lifts his shirt, and at approximately 4:02 am, three officers fire over a dozen shots at Williams. Williams falls. Two officers order Williams to stop moving, then fire several more rounds.
\nPolice don’t find a weapon on Williams. He had a water bottle tucked into his waistband.
\nAt a press conference, hours Later, Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis would describe the event as ‘suicide by cop.’
\n“I think that the killing of Anthoniel Williams is as tragic as it is predictable,” says Michael Sierra-Arévalo. He’s an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas and a member of the Austin Public Safety commission. He researches police culture, training and public safety. Sierra-Arévalo says officers are trained in de-escalation tactics, but he says that’s often superseded by another priority: officer safety.
\n“Your number one job is to go home at night,” Sierra-Arévalo says. “I think what ends up happening in practice is that this can short circuit a lot of the lessons that come with other kinds of training, things like crisis intervention training, things like de-escalation training, because rubber meets road, police are unlikely to want to take chances.”
\nMichael Bullock is the president of the Austin Police Association. He says officers do receive appropriate training, but can only respond to the information they are given.
\n“At the end of the day, if the individual that's calling 911 is providing information and then the actions of an individual on scene match the information being provided, officers are forced into a situation that they did not create,” Bullock says. “I think it's an unrealistic expectation to expect officers to be shot at or killed before they respond.”
\nAustin police training has come under scrutiny in the past. Cadet classes were halted in 2020 after complaints of racism and bigotry within the department. The Austin city council called for an audit of the department. In 2021 a panel of community members called for APD to remove 60 videos that they said perpetuated “harmful stereotypes perpetuated against Black and Brown communities.” And earlier this year, APD announced it was updating its use of force policies and requiring new de-escalation training.
\nBut Sierra-Arévalo says the Safety Commission hasn’t been shown updates on how training has changed, despite asking for them for years now.
\n“We've been asking for essentially a spreadsheet of like what are y'all doing?,\" Sierra-Arévalo says. “I think that if I haven't seen it, no one's seen it because we're the ones asking for it.”
\nBut Williams’ case is a single incident. What does a broader look at officer-involved shootings reveal?
\nThat’s what Krystal Kimbrough’s team wanted to know. She’s a policy compliance consultant for the Office of Police Oversight.
\n“Our team wanted to be able to look at trends, even locations,” Kimbrough says. “But more importantly, demographics. Who was being affected most.”
\nAfter months of verifying and researching APD data, they launched the Officer Involved Shooting Dashboard this spring. Currently it includes data from 2018 to early 2026. In that time there have been 61 OIS events. Kimbrough says while it’s hard to compare to other cities, that’s average for a city of Austin’s size.
\nThe data also shows that most OIS events have occurred in District 4. Baden Lane, where Williams was shot, was on the border of that district.
\nCitywide, Hispanic men made up roughly 46% of all individuals in officer-involved shootings, while nearly 70% of officers involved were white and had been on the force for only one to four years. All three of the officers involved in Williams’ case had been on the force for three years or less, according to APD.
\n“That's a national trend,” says Kimbrough. “Usually when they're released from the academy, they do go to higher activity areas. Also, their younger officers are usually the ones out on the streets. A lot of times older officers or detectives have moved up in rank.”
\nThe OIS Dashboard also tracks another trend–about 30% of the incidents involved someone with a mental health emergency, according to APD’s data. And that’s what many have said Williams' case comes down to–a mental health emergency.
\nA 2018 report found that compared to 15 other cities, Austin had the highest per capita rate of fatal police shootings involving people believed to be experiencing a mental health crisis. In response, city leaders and APD changed policies around mental health calls. Since 2021, people calling 911 can request mental health services. Mental health clinicians are on-site at the 911 call center. Integral Care’s Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, or EMCOT, is now available 24/7 after increased city funding. And a co-response unit that teams up with EMS services is also available.
\n“The goal is to really connect people to more appropriate behavioral health services, and really divert police from having to go to those calls if they're not needed,” says Melissa Malik, director of Crisis Services and Justice Initiatives at Integral Care. They provide mental health services in Central Texas, and for the past 12 years have been part of Austin’s emergency mental health response work.
\nAll this comes as the need for mental health services is on the rise.
\n“Across the nation, 1 in 5 people experience mental health diagnosis and 1 in 25 people experience a serious mental illness,” says Malik.
\nBut community activists have stated that Austin’s mental health safety net isn’t strong enough.
\n“If people think we have a robust mental health response system, please educate me,” says Chas Moore, founder of the Austin Justice Coalition. “I’m saying we need an actual reliable mental health response system that does not, again, rely heavily on APD.”
\nAnd Bullock says that burden often falls to police.
\n“There's not an alternative right now that really can deal with the volume of calls,” Bullock says. “We're supposed to have overnight teams that are available, but there is very limited staffing available through our mental health authority to try and divert these calls overnight. …so officers are still the ones that wind up having to go to these calls.”
\nThis summer city leaders were considering cutting about 5 million from social services out of the city’s budget.
\nMental health programs were included on the chopping block, including one that provides free mental healthcare to Rundberg families, an area designated by city leaders as a mental healthcare desert. Most of those cuts were avoided thanks to an unexpected influx of property tax money, but that was a one-time boost. It’s unclear if these programs will be funded next year.
\nWhatever the future is for mental health programs is in Austin, in the past, they weren’t enough for Williams.
\nWhen he called 911, he didn’t ask for mental health assistance. He asked for the police.
\n\"I think that what I and others are interested in is trying to understand when and how different systems failed Anthoniel,” says Sierra-Arévalo. “He thought the only way out was to call police to his location and then reach for his waistband. I think that I and others are interested in providing support through other mechanisms that might help us avoid Anthoniel ever making the call. Because right now there are too many people making that kind of call to the police.”
\nAPD says they are investigating the incident, and the officers involved are on leave, per department policy. The Office of Police Oversight said it will be reviewing the case and may make recommendations on training. Williams’ case will be added to the dashboard when the internal investigation is finished.
\nThe budget adopted by the city increases APD’s budget, but carves 911 calls out of APD’s management. A new Office of Joint Emergency Communications would answer calls and coordinate operations across agencies. Activists have called for the officers involved to be prosecuted, but some aren’t expecting answers from city leaders. Instead they’re looking towards each other for support. Chaka is the founder of DAWA, an organization that provides support to other nonprofits in Austin. Since April, they’ve been hosting grief counseling for people to process collective trauma.
\n“I've lived a long enough time where I feel like the most important things that we need are actually our own systems, our own infrastructure,” Chaka says. “So that when these things do happen, we have people ready to respond in terms of the healing aspect of it.”
\nIt’s unclear if there will be enough social safety nets for Austinites in the future. But Chaka believes those nets can be built with neighbors.
\n“We want to grow a space where you have somewhere to turn,” Chaka says. “We still have to find a way.”
\nRESOURCES
\nIf you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available.
\n-austinchildguidance.org to find out more about their mental health services for Rundberg families.
\n-Contigo offers various mental health services for communities of color.
\n-DAWA offers resources and grief support sessions through September.
\n-NAMI also has various mental health resources for communities.
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