AUSTIN, Texas — Some residents living in southeast Austin say they are fed up after being awakened by gunshots overnight.
Residents say crime in the Montopolis Drive neighborhood is on the rise, and now they live in fear.
Delwin Goss says he woke up to a loud pounding sound on the outside wall of his bedroom wall at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
“That’s when I thought somebody was trying to break into the house,” Goss explained.
However, after taking a look around, Goss discovered that what he had heard was actually gunshots.
From Goss’ home security footage, he says he heard several shots minutes apart around 1:25 a.m., then six to eight rounds at 1:30 a.m., then three more after that.
“It’s making the hair on my arms stand up,” Goss said. “To hear eight, nine, 10 shots. Just bam, bam, bam. Where are those bullets going?”
Goss says he called 9-1-1 immediately and was told that the Austin Police Department (APD) was already on the scene. He says police vehicles had already blocked off the corner of Ponca Street and Thrasher Lane.
But Goss says the neighborhood is no stranger to the sounds of gunshots.
“I’ve talked to the lady that lives behind me … She said she hears gunshots in the neighborhood two-to-three times a week on a regular basis,” Goss explained.
He says the Montopolis neighborhood has always been rough since before he moved to the area 30 years ago.
“I’ve watched it for the last five, six, seven years and it just gets a little worse,” Goss said. “I see more open drug use in this neighborhood, more drug dealing.”
Goss says he blames it on a lack of police presence in the area. Goss acknowledged that APD is severely understaffed, with the department currently staffed 50% below where nationally recognized law enforcement groups recommend staffing to be.
He says the city needs to pay attention.
“They’re not out here protecting me, or my 85-year-old heart transplant neighbor, or the widow that’s in her 70s next door,” Goss said.
Austin City Councilwoman Mackenzie Kelly says leaders are already working on addressing his concerns. She said she has communicated with Goss through email about the incident, with him relaying his fear since it occurred.
Kelly says she’s already reached out to APD about the gunshots and she’s toured Goss’s neighborhood before.
“He feels as if his part of the district, part of town, is neglected, and I firmly believe that everyone, despite what district they are in, deserves the opportunity to feel safe in their own homes,” Kelly said.
Kelly says the city is doing everything it can to retain and recruit more APD officers because people like Goss deserve to feel safe.
Many leaders have said a big part of being able to recruit and retain officers depends on the city and the Austin Police Union agreeing to a new long-term contract.
The city’s been without one for more than a year, as negotiations are ongoing.
In the meantime, people like Goss say they can’t afford to move away.
“I don’t want to be shot sleeping in my bed,” Goss says.
KVUE reached out to APD to confirm if there was an incident there, and have not received a reply at the time of publication.