Father warned son

The Harrells, who describe themselves as avid hunters and staunch defenders of the right to protect their home and property, said they had suspected for several months that their son was involved in drugs.

In December, Tyler Harrell informed his parents that he had been at the home of another teenager when an intruder came in with a gun and yelled, “Give me all your drugs, give me all of your money.” Peter Harrell said the gunman fired a single shot that whizzed past Tyler’s head, and that his son wrestled the gun away from the perpetrator and disposed of it.

While the Harrells said that Tyler didn’t report the incident, they believe police might have learned their son’s identity from some of the other participants. They said they warned their son to “get out of whatever he had been doing,” Peter Harrell said.

By this spring, records show Austin police were building a case to search the Harrell home. A warrant seeking permission to raid the house said that, after receiving a tip, officers conducted three “trash runs” and found “food saver bags with marijuana residue,” “a black container labeled ‘Ground Swell Cannabis Boutique,’” and two package casings for ammunition, among other items.

“The multiple small individual sized baggies and suspected marijuana evidence (indicate) likely distribution occurring inside the home,” the warrant said. It said police intended to use a “no-knock” approach “based on the presence of an assault rifle ammunition in the trash and possibly of armed suspects residing in the home.”

Just before 6 a.m. on April 14, officers burst into the two-story home on Morrow Street, west of Lamar Boulevard in North-Central Austin.

At the time of the raid, Peter Harrell was already at work as an Uber driver. But Lisa Harrell, a state employee, said she was coming out of an upstairs bathroom when, “all of a sudden, I heard ‘bam!’ It was flash-bang, flash-bang, flash-bang,” she said. “I went in my bedroom and laid on the floor and put my hands up, just waiting for them to do what they were going to do.”

Lisa said that as she dove for cover she caught a glimpse at the dimly lit bottom of the stairs of what she said appeared to be a person outfitted in military clothes. She said only then did she realize the intruders might be police.

Then she saw her son dash from his bedroom and begin shooting downward, from near the top of a staircase, toward the front door — a view that is partially blocked by a wall.

“I screamed, ‘Stop! Stop, Tyler!’” Lisa said. “‘I think it’s the police.’”

She said she only heard police announce themselves about a minute later. “I know my son thought there was an intruder in the house,” she said. “Tyler would not shoot a cop knowingly.”

In an interview with detectives, Tyler Harrell said he kept the recently purchased AK-47 — his parents said he bought it for personal protection after the December incident — by his bed.

After hearing a loud bang and “his mother scream that someone was coming in … he said he fired his rifle down the stairs approximately 15 to 20 times and that when he heard the loud speaker say, ‘APD,’ he stopped firing,” according to an affidavit.

But police said they announced their presence immediately upon entering the home. Police declined to make video and audio recordings of the raid available, but an affidavit said a lieutenant can be heard on recordings of the incident using a loudspeaker repeatedly announcing that they were serving a search warrant.

“It was a worst-case scenario, and our SWAT team did a fantastic job,” Socha said.

Two months later, the Harrells said they remain disturbed by the decision to enter their home with such force and are now devoted to aiding their son’s criminal case, and learning from it. Lisa said she hopes the Austin Police Department will use the case to develop better procedures about when and how to raid a home.

“I’d like to say to the general public, ‘It could be you next,’” Peter Harrell added.