WARNING: This story contains discussions of shootings involving police. 

In a move that has shocked city officials and the Central Texas legal community, a jury has awarded $67 million to the family of 24-year-old Landon Nobles, a Black man who was killed by Austin police in 2017. 

The Austin American-Statesman reported the amount is considerable for a police shooting in Texas and might reflect a shift in jurors’ attitudes about accountability after police shootings, as well as predict costly future verdicts for the city of Austin. 

RELATED: One of two suspects caught in Austin shooting that left one dead, 13 injured 

Nobles was shot to death on May 7, 2017 following an incident involving Lt. Richard Egal and officer Max Johnson of the Austin Police Department. Egal reportedly saw a weapon on Nobles and officers viewed his attempt to run away from the scene as an “imminent threat.” They fired five shots in his direction, three of which struck Nobles. 

The office of then-Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore determined the shooting was justified, but jurors said both officers’ actions were “objectively unreasonable… such that no reasonable officer could have believed that the shooting was lawful,” per the Statesman. Physical suffering, mental agony and loss of companionship were all factors in determining the amount of damages awarded. 

The City of Austin and police officials are facing multiple lawsuits after high-profile police shootings and protest injuries in 2020, including police officer Christopher Taylor’s killing of Michael Ramo. Taylor was charged in March 2021 with first-degree murder, making it the first known indictment for an Austin police officer in a use-of-force incident, per the Texas Tribune.

Austin’s NPR station reported Taylor was indicted in August on a second murder charge in the death of Mauris DeSilva, a 46-year-old neuroscientist who killed while suffering a mental health crisis in July 2019. 

RELATED: Williamson County, Texas Settles for $5 Million in Death of Javier Ambler II 

“There is a reckoning coming for the city of Austin over its law enforcement liability from 2020,” Rebecca Webber, an Austin attorney who is representing the family of Ramos, said of the verdict. 

If you or someone you know is struggling from trauma triggered by shootings involving police officers, resources are available here.