AUSTIN, Texas – People who knew the man who was shot and killed last week in Northeast Austin are talking about how they remember him.
Clayton Taitague, who is 20 years old, was named by police as the suspect. He is accused of killing Tyler Cochran, who was 30 years old.
Austin police said Taitague killed Cochran with a gunshot, and then, seconds later, a security guard shot Taitague and seriously hurt him.
Travis County Homicide Detective Bradley Parks said, “The security guard did use his gun in self-defense.”
All of this took place early on November 1 in the parking lot of the Michelobos Sports Bar, which is located off of East Braker Lane in Northeast Austin. This is a place where the cops have been 34 times last year and 61 times so far this year, so they know it well.
Commander Lee Davis of the Austin Police Department said, “It’s not just the number of calls for service; it’s the intensity of those calls.”
“Most likely because of the many nightclubs, sports bars, and other places that are open late in this area,” Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said.
Since April, the general in charge of the area has been meeting with property owners and managers to find out what makes this a “corrupt zone.”
“I want the community to know that things are happening, and they’re happening quickly and hard.” “Commander Davis said, “We want our people to know that we hear you and that you decide what we do next.”
Commander Davis said this area is important so that other families don’t have to go through what the Whitts did.
“I can’t believe it,” Tyler Cochran’s friend Bobby Whitt said.
Whitt said that Cochran stayed with him and his family from the time he was 14 years old until he was about 19 years old.
“He was like a big brother to me,” Piper Whitt, Bobby Whitt’s daughter, said.
Bob Whitt said, “He was just always trying to live life and love life.”
Whitt said that Cochran was doing well at the time of the killing. He was living with a girlfriend in College Station and had a steady job as a construction worker.
“To go out at such a peak, it really makes us wonder where he could have gone, what was next,” he said.
The Austin Police Department said they haven’t talked to the subject yet because he’s still in the hospital and not awake. He will be charged with first-degree murder after he gets out of jail. The security guard who fired his gun will not be charged.
Source: Friends of man killed in deadly North Austin shooting share memories of him
