Austin police identify suspect, victims killed in Saturday hostage standoff
The Austin Police Department released the names of three people who were found dead after a standoff that also resulted in the death of Austin police SWAT officer Jorge Pastore on Saturday.
Officials named the suspect as Ahmed Mohamed Nassar, who was found dead at the scene after police shot him. Eyman Ahmed Elnemr-Nassar and Riad Mohamed Nassar were named as the other victims.
Public records indicate that Ahmed Nassar was son to Eyman Ahmed Elnemr-Nassar and the brother to Riad Mohamed Nassar.
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Authorities said a 911 caller who called at 2:49 a.m. was screaming for help and said that someone was stabbing her.
Officers responded about eight minutes later and located the 911 caller, who said Ahmed Nassar still had the knife. She was taken to the hospital.
The release states that officers learned that the other two family members were still inside and began to make a forced entrance into the home, where Ahmed Nassar fired at them at about 3 a.m.
SWAT was called out and entered the home at about 4:10 a.m. Ahmed Nassar was barricaded in the residence and began firing at officers, the release said. This firefight resulted in the death of Pastore and injured one officer, who has since left the hospital to continue recovering.
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Officers on the scene, along with Austin-Travis County EMS tactical medics, moved the injured officers to safety and began to give medical aid, the release said. Both officers were taken to a hospital, where Pastore was pronounced dead.
Authorities said they discovered Eyman Elnemr-Nassar and Riad Nassar inside the home with fatal injuries, and they were pronounced dead at the scene. Ahmed Nassar also died from his injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Reports that Ahmed Nassar was on an FBI watchlist began circulating online on Tuesday. However, Anna Sabana, strategic communication and community engagement manager for the Austin Police Department, told the American-Statesman that is "not accurate."
Austin police received a tip about Ahmed Nassar in 2015 about suspicious activity but did not find any connections to crime or any other reason to continue surveilling him, according to exclusive reporting by the American-Statesman.
A search warrant for the home where the incident occurred shows that Ahmed Nassar had body armor, night vision goggles, materials to make explosives and firearms.
The search warrant said it is "not uncommon" for people who have all of that tactical gear to also have materials to make explosives.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police identify suspect, victims killed in hostage standoff
