On Thursday, April 11, 2024, at approximately 9:30 p.m. San Marcos Police responded to a call from two men who told dispatchers that a man was following them while they were walking near East Hopkins and Cheatham Street. The callers reported that the man followed them from a convenience store on Cheatham Street into a neighborhood nearby. They told dispatchers the man following them displayed two large knives and threatened them with the weapons. The suspect, described as a shorter black male in his 20s wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants, walked away from the scene when the men being followed called 911.

Officers in the area located a man fitting the suspect’s description at approximately 10:33 p.m., after he had returned to the convenience store on Cheatham Street. The suspect and the officer walked outside of the store. Once outside, the suspect ran across Hopkins Street, then across Thorpe Lane toward an occupied business.

According to the initial investigation, officers unsuccessfully attempted to stop the suspect by deploying a Taser. The suspect, wielding a knife with people in the immediate vicinity, continued running toward the occupied business and was shot by San Marcos Police. Officers on scene provided emergency medical aid and the suspect was transported to Seton Hays Hospital in Kyle where he was pronounced deceased. As of this release, the suspect has not been positively identified. No other injuries were reported as a result of this incident.

The Travis County Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy. The Texas Department of Public Safety Texas Rangers Division, the San Marcos Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, and the San Marcos Police Department Office of Professional Conduct are conducting concurrent investigations at this time.

UPDATE: The deceased suspect has been identified as 22-year-old Malachi Williams.