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7th November 2015, 02:41 PM
http://www.texaspolicenews.com/default.aspx?act=Newsletter.aspx&category=News+1-2&newsletterid=57299&menugroup=Home
State District Judge Julie Kocurek, the presiding felony judge for Travis County, was shot in the driveway of her West Austin home late Friday, authorities said. Police said the injury is not considered life threatening.
Police said the shooting was reported at 10:16 p.m. Kocurek had just returned home and was accompanied by others when she was shot, police Cmdr. Mark Spangler said. No one else with the judge was shot.
A neighbor of Kocurek’s told the American-Statesman that she “just heard four pops.”
Law enforcement officials swarmed the area around Kocurek’s home near Lake Austin looking for the assailant. The search includes dozens of Austin police officers who are searching by both air and ground. Spangler said darkness obviously presented a challenge in the search.
The shooting occurred in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood on Scenic Drive, a street of $1 million and $2 million homes that runs along Lake Austin. Police set up crime-scene tape around a white sport-utility vehicle in front of Kocurek’s home, which has a security gate that cuts across the driveway.
Kocurek, a former prosecutor, has served as the presiding judge of the 390th District Court since being appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush in January 1999. She went on to become the only Republican elected to a state district judgeship in Travis County. In 2006, she switched political parties and joined the Democrats.
District Judge David Wahlberg said he received word of the shooting after midnight.
“It’s the most shocking news I have ever received,” he said. “Judge Kocurek is a wonderful woman. It’s unfathomable to think that anyone would be angry with her. We are all praying for her.”
State District Judge Julie Kocurek, the presiding felony judge for Travis County, was shot in the driveway of her West Austin home late Friday, authorities said. Police said the injury is not considered life threatening.
Police said the shooting was reported at 10:16 p.m. Kocurek had just returned home and was accompanied by others when she was shot, police Cmdr. Mark Spangler said. No one else with the judge was shot.
A neighbor of Kocurek’s told the American-Statesman that she “just heard four pops.”
Law enforcement officials swarmed the area around Kocurek’s home near Lake Austin looking for the assailant. The search includes dozens of Austin police officers who are searching by both air and ground. Spangler said darkness obviously presented a challenge in the search.
The shooting occurred in Austin’s Tarrytown neighborhood on Scenic Drive, a street of $1 million and $2 million homes that runs along Lake Austin. Police set up crime-scene tape around a white sport-utility vehicle in front of Kocurek’s home, which has a security gate that cuts across the driveway.
Kocurek, a former prosecutor, has served as the presiding judge of the 390th District Court since being appointed by then-Gov. George W. Bush in January 1999. She went on to become the only Republican elected to a state district judgeship in Travis County. In 2006, she switched political parties and joined the Democrats.
District Judge David Wahlberg said he received word of the shooting after midnight.
“It’s the most shocking news I have ever received,” he said. “Judge Kocurek is a wonderful woman. It’s unfathomable to think that anyone would be angry with her. We are all praying for her.”