[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] The hero Texas police officers who shot and killed an Islamic terrorist outside an Austin bar are facing a grand jury led by the city's George Soros-backed district attorney (DA).
Travis County DA José Garza was slammed after it emerged that his office is assessing possible charges against the three cops who bravely killed gunman Ndiaga Diagne on Sunday.
| Diagne's social media accounts showed the terrorist frequently abused Jewish people online, branded conservative women 'wh***s' and backed Iran to destroy Israel in a series of hate-filled posts. |
Diagne, wearing a 'Property of Allah' shirt over an Islamic flag, killed three people and wounded 13 others before he was killed by police who arrived on the scene within minutes of the attack.
The city's mayor praised the officers for 'without a doubt saving lives' however they now face the prospect of a grand jury thanks to a policy shaped by the woke legal group The Wren Collective.
The group worked with Garza's office to establish a policy for all police involved in deadly shootings to face grand juries, including the heroic officers who stepped in on Sunday.
The collective, led by Austin-based attorney Jessica Brand, touts itself as a policy advisor 'reimagining the way our country approaches the criminal legal system.'
Texas attorney Doug O'Connell said on X that he has been asked by the Austin Police Association to represent the three police officers and that he would be 'with them every step of the way.'
Garza, who has faced scrutiny for his 'soft on crime' approach, introduced the Grand Jury requirement in 2021 following the George Floyd riots and has been criticized on social media since news broke he intends to apply it to the latest shooting.
So far, the officers who took down Diagne, who have not been publicly named, have not been formally charged.
O'Connell said Tuesday that the officers potentially facing charges was 'sad' as he vowed to back the officers.
He told the New York Post: 'The district attorney, at the direction of the Wren Collective, insists on presenting every officer-involved shooting to a grand jury. We believe that our clients will face this same process.'
The attorney criticized the process for a lack of transparency, stating that: 'Grand Juries in Texas are secret, meaning only the prosecutors are in the room. The prosecutors control what evidence the grand jury sees, and they have no obligation to present exculpatory evidence.'
Texas Governor Greg Abbott also slammed Garza and said on X that the officers 'are heroes who saved lives,' adding: 'Whatever the DA does, I will have the final say in the fate of these police officers.'
The Central Texas Public Safety Commission spoke out against the DA in their statement saying: 'The officers who rushed to save countless lives are heroes to the Austin community and beyond.'
The board's president Pam Madere noted that 'while it has long been a standing policy for officer-involved shootings to be referred to the Grand Jury, the District Attorney has complete discretion on whether or not to take that step.'
'The Central Texas Public Safety Commission strongly encourages DA Garza not to refer these officers to the Grand Jury,' Madere wrote.
Garza entered office as the Travis County DA in 2021 after his campaign was backed by liberal mega-donor George Soros.
The Wren Collective works with over 100 prosecutors across the country. On its website, the group says it advises officials on policies to reduce mass incarceration, address the 'root causes' of crime and promote alternatives to traditional prosecutions.
Officials said police were stationed in Austin's Entertainment District on Sunday night when Diagne opened fire.
Three people were shot dead by the gunman, named as amateur MMA fighter Jorge Pederson, 30, Savitha Shan, 21, and Ryder Harrington, 19.
Two of the wounded were listed in critical condition, officials said, as Pederson was taken off life support on Monday.
Shan was a management information systems and economics student at the University of Texas, who was only a few months away from graduating.
Harrington was mourned as 'a beloved son, brother, and friend' by the Beta Theta Pi chapter at Texas Tech, where he was a member of the Fall 2024 pledge class.
Diagne, 53, was believed to have been hellbent on revenge for the US attacks on Iran that began early Saturday morning. He was a former New York City resident and US citizen who immigrated from Senegal. A Quran was later found in his car. Diagne's social media accounts showed the terrorist frequently abused Jewish people online, branded conservative women 'wh***s' and backed Iran to destroy Israel in a series of hate-filled posts.
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