Shooting at Austin Tire Shop

The owner of a tire shop in North Austin is charged in the shooting of a former employee, police said Sunday.

The shooting happened just after 2:30pm at the Whitt Tire Shop on North Lamar near Braker. Police said John Whitt, 67, got into an argument with the yet unidentified man, and that's when Whitt pulled out a gun and shot him.

"Things just escalated today," said Cpl. Jeff Koble. "The business owner here felt threatened by the man's presence; there had been some other verbal exchanges between the two men in the last few days."

As crime scene investigators took pictures of the scene and collected evidence, several of Whitt's employees stood close by, shocked about the shooting of the man they call Timmy.

"I just know that he's been working here for about, off and on, for about a year or two," said Yaneli Falcon.

"To me he was real cool. I mean everybody has their good days and bad days," said Antoine Jackson.

Jackson said Timmy was fired a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't the first time he was let go. He said Timmy had trouble finding work and needed his job back, but Whitt wasn't giving him another chance.

"This is the second time he's come up here threatening him," said Falcon.

Police said Sunday's confrontation blew-out of control. They said Whitt shot Timmy once in the torso. He was taken to UMC Brackenridge with non-life threatening injuries.

Police read Whitt his rights, and allowed him to hand-over the keys to his tire shop to an employee. Police said even though Whitt felt threatened, the shooting isn't justified.

"The only time in the State of Texas that you can use deadly forces is when you are in fear of yourself or another person of imminent serious bodily injury or death," said Cpl. Koble.