On Saturday shortly before midnight, Cedar Park Police Officers responded to the area of Whitestone and Bagdad in relation to an ongoing Terroristic Threat call from earlier in the evening.
Included in the call was a threat of suicide and gun-violence to passing cars/motorists unless the police stop him. The suspect in the Terroristic Threat call was John Marcus Perry who is a 47-year-old white male. Although the suspect did not give a specific location in which he would engage passing cars with a firearm, he is known by CPPD officers to frequent the area of Whitestone and Bagdad.
Officers went to that location to look for Perry and requested the assistance of DPS Air Support. A DPS aircraft was nearby, already in flight, and quickly responded to the scene acquiring a subject in a wooded area just north of Whitestone Blvd. Officers investigated the wooded area to make contact and determine if the subject in the woods was Perry. When the officers gained a visual look at the suspect, they noted he was carrying what appeared to be a rifle and he was moving in their direction.
As the suspect neared, the officers illuminated him with bright flashlights at which time he presented the rifle in a manner determined by the officers to be a threat to their personal safety. Both officers fired and the suspect went down. The two officers immediately transitioned from threat mitigation to life-saving efforts applying tourniquets and other trauma care to Perry’s wounds.
Mr. Perry was transported by EMS and treated at a regional hospital where he remains under police custody in stable condition. No Police Officers or members of the general public were injured in the incident.
This remains an open investigation and further information will be available in the coming days. Consistent with CPPD protocol, both officers have been placed on administrative leave and a concurrent investigation is being conducted by the Texas Rangers.
If anybody has information related to this case please contact Lt. Larry Bond at 512-260-4766.
(Photo: Shutterstock by Alex Schmidt)
