An Austin police officer and a woman sustained gunshot wounds early Wednesday morning, as reported by Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis in a press conference later that day. The incident took place near the 700 block of Azie Morton Road.

Police said the suspect is in custody after another shooting at a south Austin home, hours after the original incident, police said. In a briefing on Wednesday morning, Davis said a homeowner shot the suspect after he ran inside a home in an attempt to escape police.

“This has been a sad morning, a difficult time for sure,” Davis said. “I am happy to report that our officer is doing well. It is every chief’s nightmare to hear that one of their officers has been shot.”

APD initially notified the public via alert messages and social media posts before 5:30 a.m.

According to sources, the officer had been on patrol in the Zilker Park area and found a vehicle that had been reported stolen. While waiting on a tow truck to remove the vehicle, other officers on park patrol went to check the rest of the park.

“The tow company arrived, and the officer was assisting with that, doing his paperwork, and saw two individuals start to exit from the lining of the trees,” Davis said.

She described the two people as a white man and a white woman, both in their 20s to 30s.

The officer gave them verbal commands to come towards him — Davis noted that the man was walking behind the woman. Once they were within “five to six feet” of the officer, he ordered the man to show his hands, Davis said.

“At that point, the male suspect brought up his gun, fired and struck the female in the back of the head,” Davis said. “He continued to fire striking our officer. At that point, our officer was able to pull his weapon and return fire.”

The man then fled into the brush, she added.

“He is considered armed and dangerous. If you see anyone suspicious, do not approach and call 9-1-1 immediately. For your safety, keep clear of the area,” said a post from APD at the time.

Other officers in the park arrived to the scene. One took the officer to Dell Seton Medical Center in an APD vehicle, while another stayed with the woman. Austin-Travis County EMS brought her to the hospital.

The officer was “rushed into surgery right away,” Davis said, and is currently in stable condition.

“He is not only a hero, he is very brave, and he did an outstanding job,” she said about her officer.

However, the woman is not expected to survive, Davis said.

“I don’t think it is looking positive for her, but she hasn’t been pronounced yet,” Davis said.

‘Hunt’ for suspect begins

APD deployed additional resources to the park area to locate the suspect. According to Davis, APD SWAT, a helicopter and five K-9 officers responded to the call.

“There was a huge hunt on for this suspect within that wood. And you think about the area and how large that area is, they did a fantastic job,” Davis said.

During the search, KXAN Reporter Barrett Tryon gave a live update from near the scene. Watch his update in the video player below

As of 6:50 a.m., APD said its officers were still actively searching for the suspect. At 7:25 a.m., APD said it would update the media around 8 a.m.

Austin ISD, with its Zilker and Barton Hills Elementary schools in the vicinity, told families at the time that both schools were operating on a secure status.

“Families who have not yet left home are encouraged to make the best decision for their families,” AISD said. “During a Secure, all activities continue inside, but no one may leave or enter school buildings. Any students arriving late will be safely escorted inside.”

AISD Police Chief Wayne Sneed also spoke at the press conference.

“Things are constantly changing during these situations,” he said. “When we’re doing this, we’re trying to use the best judgement that we can under the circumstances.”

Homeowner shoots suspect

Just before that briefing began, an APD public information officer suddenly told reporters that it had to postpone the briefing.

Moments later, police vehicles with lights on sped eastbound on Barton Springs Road, past the staging point and then southbound down South Lamar Blvd.

Minutes later, sources told KXAN that officers had a suspect in custody. At 8:38 a.m., APD said it had a person in custody that it “believed to be the individual involved in this morning’s officer-involved shooting.”

Davis later said that an AISD Police sergeant reported a suspicious person near a school in the area. The sergeant approached the suspect, who ran into the Barton Hills Community, she said.

“They had a huge police presence at the school,” Davis said. “All the kids were brought into the school … school had started.”

The suspect, with officers chasing behind him, ran into a home. However, the homeowner shot the suspect.

“[The suspect] is in stable condition. I believe he was shot in the arm and in the leg,” Davis said.

Homeowner credits alerts, Davis to investigate errors

During the search, APD sent alerts via text message to residents to shelter in place. Those came via WarnCentralTexas.org, Davis later explained.

She said the homeowner told her that warning “saved my life” and that he said it saved his family.

“It’s important that when you look at what this is capable of doing, it does save lives,” Davis said.

However, the warning was erroneously lifted and changed into an “avoid the area” alert around 6:30 a.m. An “avoid the area” alert is typically used to tell drivers to not use certain roads, she explained.

Davis said at the press conference that she will investigate what went wrong with the alerts.

“Originally, when SWAT arrived, we put a shelter in place … was in effect, I believe, for about 50 minutes, and then it was changed from shelter in place to avoid the area,” she said. “I have serious concerns about why that happened. I will get to the bottom of why that happened and ensure that there’s processes in place to ensure that it does not happen again.”

The shelter-in-place was actually lifted at 8:54 a.m.

Davis said that the department will provide more updates about the shooting at a press conference on Friday.

KXAN reporters Barrett Tryon and Brianna Hollis contributed to this report.