*Saturday night in Austin, Texas at a largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protest, a man was shot dead by a driver who sped toward the crowd before opening fire.
The dead man, identified as Garrett Foster, was pushing his paraplegic fiancee in her wheelchair just moments before the shooting.
Foster’s mother, Sheila Foster, spoke to “Good Morning America” on Sunday. She told the show that her son had attended several peaceful protests with his fiancee Whitney Mitchell, who is a quadruple amputee.
The shooting happened just before 10pm during a protest in Austin, police spokesperson Katrina Ratliff told reporters.
During the demonstration, a vehicle had honked, turned down a road and then sped toward protesters, witness Michael Capochiano told the Austin American-Statesman.
Foster, who Capochiano said was carrying a rifle, approached the vehicle and was shot by the driver. The driver then drove away, Capochiano said.
But according to Foster’s mother, the man “got out of his car and started firing shots, and my son was shot three times.”
Foster was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Sheila Foster told “GMA” that she wouldn’t be surprised if her son was carrying a gun because he was licensed to carry and probably “would’ve felt the need to protect himself.”
Police spokesperson Katrina Ratliff said a suspect has been detained in connection to the shooting and is cooperating with police.
The Black Lives Matter demonstration was streamed live on Facebook and captured audio of a vehicle’s horn honking.
Footage posted during the Facebook Live showed the moment when several shots rang out as a group of about 100 people marched and chanted “fists up! Fight back!”
There were no other deaths or injuries reported.
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