1 Suspect in Custody After Austin Police Officer Shot [UPDATED]

8:52 a.m. update

Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said a SWAT team member returned fire after being shot at by a suspect, who later surrendered himself just minutes after the confrontation.

The officer is now recovering at a hospital where he is stable condition recuperating from his wounds, the chief said during a press conference near the scene. The officer shot is a seven-year veteran of the force, the chief added.

Police had been serving a search warrant at a duplex in search of a suspect wanted for narcotics sales, the chief said. The search warrant for the suspect led police to Morrow Street near North Lamar Boulevard at about 5:55 a.m., he added.

An 18-year-old suspect fired at the officers from the upstairs portion of the dwelling, the chief said. During an exchange of gunfire, the officer wounded was struck in the knee. Acevedo said a second officer also returned fire, but did not hit the suspect.

Some 12 minutes later, the shooter exited the home in surrendering to police, accompanied by a woman believed to be his mother.

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The wounded SWAT officer was taken to University Medical Center. His injuries are not life threatening, police said. A witness in the neighborhood said she saw a man, presumably the officer, walk to a gurney on his own and be loaded into an ambulance around 6:10 a.m.

"The officer is alert, he's stable, and he's surrounded by family" Acevedo said.

The chief said officers made their presence known as they entered the building as is the normal practice. Police also utilized flash distraction devices used to confuse suspects while police enter a building.

"As the officers entered the location and started moving into the location, a suspectr who was upstairs sliced the pie, which means he came around a corner, looked down on the officers with a long rifle an ceommenced to open fire on the fully uniformed police officers who were wearing their clearly identifiable police uniforms with 'police' written on them.

Acevedo said the officer who was shot didn't return fire. Another officer provided cover fire but didn't hit the officer. That officer who returned fire will be placed on administrative leave, as is the custom in officer-involved shootings.

There were no other suspects in the dwelling at the time of the incident, the chief said. But to be safe, robots were sent into the structure to determine it was empty, the chief said.

Police urged people to avoid the area as they continue to investigate. Morrow Street is closed at North Lamar Boulevard. Many police officers remain in the area.

A resident of the neighborhood tweeted that she heard "three loud booms" shortly after 6 a.m. A witness said she saw two men led away in handcuffs. A KVUE reporter in the neighborhood tweeted that police were on bullhorns urging the occupants inside a house to "come out with hands up."

This is the second time in 11 days an Austin police officer has survived a shooting. Officer Armando Perez was shot in abdomen during a scuffle with a burglary suspect who was later killed. It's the third officer-involved shooting since February, when an officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in February.

Earlier on Patch

• Austin Officer Involved In Shooting Released From Hospital