The Austin Police Department continues to investigate an officer-involved shooting on Thursday, November 7, 2024.
The incident began in Bee Cave just before 3:15 a.m. when a police officer spotted an orange truck traveling westbound at a high rate of speed on Highway 71. According to reports, the driver initially stopped once the officer turned on his lights, but sped away once the officer approached the truck, heading northbound on Highway 620.
The vehicle continued through Lakeway as the driver reportedly headed northbound in the southbound lanes, forcing oncoming vehicles to move out of the way to avoid being hit. In response, the Bee Cave police officer made the decision to end the pursuit.
A call for assistance was made to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, but a deputy lost sight of the driver. However, officials were able to track down the owner by running a search on the license plate, according to Bee Cave Chief of Police Brian Jones.
“It was his son, Zachary Labrie, that was driving the vehicle,” Jones said. “And his son had told him that he had been in a police pursuit, that he was armed, and he had made some suicidal statements to his father.”
Ring doorbell footage shared by APD shows Labrie kicking the door down of an apartment belonging to his ex-girlfriend — a woman police say was assaulted by Labrie on multiple occasions, including strangulation. After finding that she was not home, he left the apartment and was later spotted wearing a mask and carrying a shotgun before driving away.
Less than five minutes after the footage captured Labrie leaving, 911 received a call about a woman who was carjacked by an armed, mask-wearing man at a Starbucks in the Four Points area. And nearly two hours after that, another carjacking was reported by a man in a nearby HEB parking lot.
APD’s Violent Crimes Task Force later tracked Labrie to the MAA Canyon Creek apartments where they made contact with him. Police say Labrie fled on foot, and during the chase pointed a gun in the direction of them, prompting three officers and one detective to open fire. All four are now on administrative leave.
Labrie died from his injuries.
APD is conducting two concurrent investigations into this incident: a criminal investigation by the APD Special Investigations Unit in conjunction with the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, and an administrative investigation by the APD Internal Affairs Unit.
