AUSTIN (KXAN) – A man currently in jail accused of attacking a person with a Katana sword, is now facing new charges for allegedly assaulting a Fasten driver.
On Dec. 1, a driver for Fasten, a ridesharing company, called police around 12:11 a.m. to report that a man pulled a gun on him in Austin. The Fasten driver told police, his passenger, later identified as 31-year-old Shusaku Shiroyama, requested a ride on Red River to East 12th Street.
As soon as Shiroyama got in the car, the driver said he told him to turn off the Fasten app so he could give him directions to his destination. The driver explained to Shiroyama that he has to follow Fasten policies and use their maps to navigate. According to the affidavit, Shiroyama told the driver “hey mother[expletive] shut down this app and don’t waste my [expletive] time.”
The driver said he immediately told Shiroyama that he needed to leave his vehicle and would not give him service. Shiroyama then pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the driver’s head, states the affidavit. When the driver told Shiroyama that he was going to call police, he responded “[expletive] police” and walked away.
While the app usually links to a user’s Facebook page, Shiroyama’s Fasten account only listed a name and email address. As police searched for over a month to identify the suspect, they discovered that he was already in custody at the Travis County Jail for the stabbing in east Austin on Jan. 15. In the stabbing case he was accused of attacking and chasing a person with a long black sword around an east Austin apartment.
Shiroyama is facing charges for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, which is a second degree felony. He is being held on three different charges on a $85,000 bond.