A witness to Garrett Foster's death says the shooter was 'aggressive' and not acting in self defense

• A witness to the shooting death of Garrett Foster in Austin, Texas, on Saturday told CNN that the motorist who opened fire "incited the violence."
• Foster, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran and caretaker for his fiancée, Whitney Mitchell, was pushing her wheelchair during a Black Lives Matter demonstration when a car drove into the crowd.
• The driver wasn't trying to defend themself — he "intentionally and aggressively accelerated their vehicle into a crowd of people," James Sasinowski told CNN.

A man who watched Garrett Foster get gunned down at a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas, over the weekend said that the shooter wasn't acting in self-defense.

The driver who killed Foster "intentionally aggressively accelerated their vehicle into a crowd of people," James Sasinowski told CNN.

"I want to be very clear that the driver incited the violence. He accelerated into the crowd of people and he shot first," Sasinowski added.

Foster, a 28-year-old Air Force veteran, was pushing the wheelchair for his fiancée, Whitney Mitchell, at the demonstration on Saturday when a still-unidentified man drove his vehicle into the crowd. The man was confronted by protesters and opened fire.

CNN reported that witnesses have provided varying accounts of the shooting. Some of them said the deadly encounter began when the driver honked his horn, according to Austin Police Chief Brian Manley. Others described seeing Foster walk up to the car carrying an AK-47 assault rifle while protesters nearby began to bang on the vehicle.

Foster, who frequented protests and supported the Second Amendment of the US Constitution, began carrying his firearm to demonstrations after his roommate was arrested at one, The Washington Post said.

Sasinowski told CNN that he isn't aware of Foster pointing his gun at the driver and hasn't heard from anyone who saw him do that. The driver initiated the violence, he said.

"This was intentional ... He could have waited for us to pass or he could have gone slowly. We would have allowed him to go through," he said.

Austin police told CNN that the driver's gun and car have been confiscated as evidence, but he was questioned and released. Another protester who shot at the vehicle was also released, police said. Both had a concealed carry license.

An investigation is ongoing and an autopsy will be conducted to figure out Foster's official cause of death, police said.

However, Kenneth Casaday, president of the Austin Police Association, said in a tweet that Foster was looking for trouble.

"This is the guy that lost his life last night. He was looking for confrontation and he found it," Casaday wrote.

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