Charges filed against man accused of shooting at Excise Police
See Also
Ian Steven Austin, 20, has been charged with attempted murder, attempted battery by means of a deadly weapon, criminal recklessness and a firearm enhancement.
Around 9:15 p.m. on September 29, Excise Officer Joseph Formato was on duty at Eddy Street Food Mart when he noticed an older gray Honda Civic leave the store and turn east on Madison Street.
Formato followed the vehicle from Madison Street onto Rockne Drive.
While on Rockne, the Honda stopped near Jacob Street, the driver got out of the vehicle and fired multiple shots towards the officer's vehicle, according to the probable cause affidavit. The driver got into his vehicle and drove away.
Investigators said the shooting was captured on the dash camera.
Just before the shooting, Formato had seen the driver commit a traffic infraction and had just turned on his rear emergency lights when the person got out of their vehicle and started firing, reports said.
The police vehicle was struck by several bullets. Bullet fragments were recovered from the front passenger tire, back passenger tire, front grill, front passenger wheel well, lower front windshield.
18 spent 9 mm shell casings were recovered at the scene.
Surveillance video from the food mart showed the suspect in the store before the shooting.
An employee of the food mart told police the man in the surveillance video is a regular customer he knew as "Pablo," reports said.
The employee identified Ian Austin's photo when asked to identify the customer in a photo lineup, according to the probable cause affidavit.
The day after the shooting, police learned where Austin worked and went there. A human resources employee told police Austin worked there but did not show up for work that day, reports said.
The employee showed police the uniform Austin wears and the clothing was consistent with the clothing worn by the man in the surveillance video, police said.
Austin was booked on October 4 and is being held on $500,000 bond.