Stephen Broderick Austin shooting suspect kills 3. Manhunt underway for ex Travis County Sheriff’s Detective accused of prior child sex abuse.
A former Texas sheriff’s detective remains at large after allegedly shooting dead three adults in Austin near an apartment complex on Sunday. The murders follow the suspect being charged with sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, according to reports.
Stephen Nicholas Broderick, 41, retired from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office last year after being charged and jailed for allegedly molesting the girl, the Austin American-Statements reported.
Broderick was arrested by US Marshals on June 6, three days after the teenager reported that he assaulted her in a home in Elgin, Texas.
Broderick was ordered held on $100,000 bail in the case and placed on administrative leave without pay, the American-Statements reported Sunday.
He was held in jail for 16 days before he posted a reduced bail amount of $50,000.
Former Austin detective arrested in shooting murder of teen daughter, her boyfriend, estranged wife
Domestic situation
Broderick’s wife filed for divorce and obtained an order of protection after his arrest, according to court records reviewed by the outlet.
He resigned from his job as a detective with the sheriff’s office after his release according to KXAN.
Interim Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon did not identify the three victims in Sunday’s shootings but described them as two Hispanic women and a black man. All three victims were known to the suspect. A child was also understood to be present during the shootings – with the child now under police protection.
Chacon said cops were called to the scene at 11:42 a.m in a ‘domestic situation’ and found all three had been shot. The victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Chacon said that the exact relationship between the suspect and the victims was still unclear, and he was also unable to say whether the minor who was involved was the child of any of the victims.
Chacon said Broderick should be considered armed and dangerous.
‘At this point we do not think that this individual is out targeting random people to shoot them — that does not mean that he is not dangerous,’ Chacon said.
He said Broderick is 5 feet, 7 inches (1.7 meters) tall and Black. He was wearing a gray hoodie, sunglasses and a baseball cap.
Chacon continued: ‘We don’t know if he’s on a vehicle or on foot. We are asking individuals to continue sheltering in place because this is still an active.’
‘We are concerned [the suspect] may take a hostage or may himself be sheltered somewhere, waiting for us to leave.’
Police and the FBI have issued ‘shelter in place’ orders in the area.