Affidavit: 'Good Samaritans' help Austin machete victim before police arrive

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AUSTIN (KXAN) — An affidavit filed Thursday morning revealed more details surrounding Tuesday’s machete attack in south Austin.

According to the affidavit, Austin Police officers responded to the 900 block of West Riverside Drive after several callers stated a man, later identified as 24-year-old Ashton Kaine Talley, was stabbing another man on a nearby hiking trail at Auditorium Shores.

In the affidavit, police identified the victim as Gregory Gott.

The affidavit said multiple "Good Samaritans" applied pressure to Gott's wounds before first responders arrived. The document states Gott was "incapacitated and losing a large amount of blood."

Court records said Gott had more than a dozen lacerations all over his body, with the most serious injuries being to his face, scalp and left hand. Officers arrived at the scene and began helping the victim.

A witness to the incident told police they saw Talley sitting on a bench when Gott walked by, and the two did not interact with each other. After Gott walked past Talley, the witness said Talley stood up and began hitting Gott with a machete.

The witness told police Talley eventually stopped hitting Gott and began chasing other people in the area while attempting to attack them as well.

Another victim said he saw Talley beating a man with a machete, so he shouted he was going to call the police, which was when he said Talley stopped hitting the man and began to chase him instead.

“[The victim] advised he ‘felt the sense of unreality’ and described Talley as the ‘Terminator.’ [The victim] described Talley as having a ‘dead-eyed, crazy psychotic, thousand-yard stare,’” the affidavit said.

When other officers arrived, multiple witnesses said a man covered in blood was seen running across the Pfluger Pedestrian bridge.

Officers eventually caught Talley, and he was arrested.

“Talley had blood smeared on his face and had blood covering his jacket, hands, pants, and boots,” the affidavit said. “Talley did not have any injuries on his body, and the blood that was all over Talley’s body appeared to be from someone else,” the affidavit said.

The second victim identified Talley as the man he saw assaulting Gott with a machete and who later chased him with the machete.

One witness said he saw Talley wrapping a machete in a jacket and throwing it into the water below. The Austin Police Department’s dive team searched the lake but did not find the machete used in the attack, the affidavit said.

In the affidavit, an APD investigator said during an interview with police, Talley did not show “any emotion and appeared to be having mental health issues or had used some form of narcotic.”

When Gott spoke to police, he said he was walking down the trail at Auditorium Shores when he was randomly attacked by a man with a machete. According to the affidavit, Gott told police the suspect swung the machete at him more than 10 times.

Gott said he attempted to run away and defend himself, but the suspect chased him and continued to hit him with the machete until he stopped to chase another man.

Talley was charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of evading arrest, APD officials said in a release Wednesday. Talley has since been booked into the Travis County Jail.

According to the affidavit, investigators believe Talley committed aggravated assault when he attacked Gott with a machete, causing serious bodily injury and permanent disfigurement.