deadly encounters

Harrowing tale of Austin judge's attempted murder spotlighted on 48 Hours

In a CBS interview, Austin judge Julie Kocurek recounts the night a gunman almost took her life.

Photo courtesy of CBS News

In an interview with 48 Hoursairing April 13 on CBS, Travis County State District Judge Julie Kocurek shares the story of the 2015 murder plot that was supposed to kill her.

It was an ordinary Friday night when Kocurek and her teenage son, Will, were heading home from a football game. After arriving at the security gate outside their house, the two noted a strangely placed leaf bag. When Will stepped out of the car to remove it, a man dressed in all black advanced upon them and fired his gun numerous times into the driver's side window.

“I scooted down as far as I could in the seat. And I protected my head with my arm and my hand," Kocurek recounts in her 48 Hours interview, according to a release. “I can remember thinking, ‘I am going to die in front of my own son.’” In the hospital, Kocurek learned she had sustained wounds from shattered glass, shrapnel from the impact of the bullets, and lost a finger.

The three weeks before the shooting, the Travis County District Attorney's Office had learned of a threat made against a judge, but the office didn't consider it credible. The assailant was later identified as Chimine Onyeri, a Houston man who had appeared in Kocurek's courtroom and plotted the attack to prevent her from sentencing him to prison for a probation violation. He was sentenced in 2018 to life in prison.

After months of recovery, Kocurek returned to the bench in 2016 and began advocating for safer courtrooms and for all threats made against judges to be thoroughly investigated.

In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed the Judge Julie Kocurek Judicial and Courthouse Security Act of 2017. The new law established a court security division within the state's Office of Court Administration, required court security personnel to have certain training, and asked local judges to create court security committees. The law also expanded privacies for judges and their spouses while allowing police officers to serve as personal security to judges.

Learn Kocurek's full story when 48 Hours' newest episode, "Live to Tell: The Vendetta," airs at 9 pm CT. Watch the preview here.

families inspiration interview media texas tv hot-headlines city-news-roundup

Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

traffic self-driving cars innovation