Editor’s note: This story has been updated with more information released by the Austin Police Department.
A woman died early Monday in a downtown Austin alley after a man who said she robbed him at knifepoint struck her with a metal rod, according to the Austin Police Department.
No charges have been filed as of Monday evening, though police have interviewed a person of interest and the case is still under investigation, the Police Department said in a news release.
At 1:38 a.m. Monday, Austin police officers were flagged down by a passerby who said a woman was bleeding in the alley of the 500 block of East Sixth Street, the news release stated. Officers found a woman on the ground with blood on her shirt, and she was taken to a hospital and later died.
The woman was later identified as Shannon Smith, 42.
The man who told police about the woman said he knew the person responsible, and officers then found a man named Gregory Watkins, 54. Watkins told police that Smith “had approached him with a knife and robbed him of his money and crack,” the news release stated.
Watkins said he struck Smith once, “and it appears this was with a metal rod he had been holding,” the news release stated.
The case was staffed with the Travis County district attorney’s office, the news release stated. Watkins was interviewed and released.
Anyone with information about the killing is asked to contact the Police Department’s homicide unit at 512-477-3588 or the department’s tip line at 512-472-8477.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Woman dies at local hospital after downtown Austin attack
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