#Gunman who fatally shot armed BLM protester identified as active Army sergeant

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Garrett Foster (pictured with his fiancee Whitney Mitchell)
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The gunman who shot and killed a Black Lives Matter protester in Austin, Texas last week has been identified by his lawyer as an active-duty US Army sergeant.

Dallas-based law firm Broden & Mickelsen identified Daniel Perry as the solider who fatally gunned down 28-year-old Garrett Foster last Saturday, The Statesman reported.

Perry, 33, who has served a tour in Afghanistan, had been driving for a ride-share company at the time of the deadly incident, according to a statement from Perry’s attorney Clint Broden. He claims the shooting was in self-defense.

Broden said he was identifying his client because “there were some false narratives being advanced and we believed it was time all the facts were known,” according to the news outlet.

The attorney claimed that Perry had dropped off a fare moments and was waiting for more clients when he encountered the BLM protest.

When Perry had turned on the city’s Congress Avenue, “several people started beating on his vehicle,” Broden said.

“An individual carrying an assault rifle, now known to be Garrett Foster, quickly approached the car and then motioned with the assault rifle for Mr. Perry to lower his window,” Broden said, explaining that Perry believed the person was with law enforcement.

“After rolling down the window, it became apparent to Sgt. Perry that the individual with the assault rifle was not with law enforcement. It has now been confirmed by several witnesses that this individual with the assault rifle then began to raise the assault rifle toward Sgt. Perry,” Broden said.

The attorney added, “It was only then that Sgt. Perry, who carried a handgun in his car for his own protection while driving strangers in the ride share program, fired on the person to protect his own life.”

Broden said “immediately after” the shooting, “a member of the crowd began firing on Sgt. Perry’s vehicle. Sgt. Perry drove to safety and immediately called the police.”

“He waited for the police to arrive and fully cooperated with the police following the shooting and he continues to do so,” said Broden, who denounced reports that Perry fled the scene, and claimed he “immediately called police upon getting to safety.”

Perry and his family “deeply sympathize with the loss and grief being experienced by Mr. Foster’s family,” said Broden, who described Perry as “devastated by the incident.

“Nevertheless, that does not change facts,” Broden said. “The simple fact is that Sgt. Perry reasonably perceived a threat to his life when, as has now been confirmed by independent witnesses, Mr. Foster raised his assault rifle toward Sgt. Perry who was sitting in his car.”

Perry has been released by cops without charges Sunday pending an ongoing investigation.

Other witnesses have previously said the driver was the one initiating the violence before shooting Foster dead and that the car plowed through the protest.

Foster, who is white, died from multiple gunshot wounds. He had been at the protest with his quadruple-amputee fiancée, who is black, family has said.