AUSTIN, Texas —  Jury selection in the trial of Daniel Perry, an Army sergeant who fatally shot Austin protester Garrett Foster, got underway Monday morning.

In July 2020, according to police, Foster, 28, was participating in a march against police violence that took place in Austin. A car drove into a crowd of protesters, upsetting the group.

Foster was openly carrying an AK-47 style rifle, which is legal in Texas. When he approached the driver's window, the driver rolled it down before shooting and killing Foster. The driver then sped off and a bystander in the crowd fired his or her gun at the car. 

In 2021, Perry was booked and released on $300,000 bail, said Kristen Dark, a spokeswoman for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office. She said Perry was booked on one count of murder and one count of deadly conduct.

Perry’s attorney, Clint Broden, has said the soldier was working for a ride-sharing company and acted in self-defense after Foster pointed a gun at him.

Perry’s attorneys have previously said that their client had just dropped off a rider when he turned onto a street filled with protesters who began beating on his vehicle. They said that Foster approached the car and motioned with his gun for Perry to lower his window. Perry initially thought Foster worked in law enforcement and put his window down, they said. But when Foster raised his weapon toward Perry, the soldier realized Foster was not a police officer and shot him in self-defense with a handgun in his car, the attorneys said.