Understaffing in the Austin Police Department in Texas has left residents concerned about crime in the city. 

Residents in the Montopolis neighborhood in Austin’s southeast told KVUE-TV crime in their area is getting worse. 

Delwin Goss told the station he woke up to gunshots in the neighborhood overnight Thursday, which he said has become shockingly common. 

"It’s making the hair on my arms stand up. To hear eight, nine, 10 shots. Just bam, bam, bam. Where are those bullets going?" he said. 

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He said his neighbor told him she hears gunshots from her home between two to three times a week. 

"I don't want to be shot sleeping in my bed," he added. 

And although Austin Police told him when he called they were already investigating, he blames the department’s understaffing problem. 

Austin Police Association President Mike Bullock addressed the officer shortage Thursday, writing on X, "500 officers short has a real impact on businesses and Austinites who expect to be able to safely run a business and live in Austin. We’re so close to having a contract that can make significant progress towards ending the staffing crisis. Question now is if the city will actually prioritize making it happen."

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Austin City Council Member Mackenzie Kelly addressed the police understaffing problem this week while speaking on the Austin Police Association’s podcast, attributing it to funding cuts in 2020.

"Our staffing currently at the police department is a direct result of the failed policy that was passed in 2020 to remove funding for the police department," she told Bullock. 

"We want a fully staffed department that takes care of our city employees that are loving the work that they do cause then they’re going to do a better job of taking care of the community."

Kelly told KVUE that council members are working to get more officers on the job so residents can feel safe in their neighborhoods. 

"He feels as if his part of the district, part of town, is neglected, and I firmly believe that everyone, despite what district they are in, deserves the opportunity to feel safe in their own homes," Kelly told the station. 

While the city has brought down the homicide rate since a record of 89 in 2021, it still remains high. 

"I think the bottom line is that, over the last three years, we've seen the highest homicide rates we have seen ever in the city," Bullock told FOX 7 earlier this year. "So, either way, no matter which way we look at it, we're not on a good trend. We're headed in the wrong direction."

The city reported 71 homicides in 2022, 73 in 2023 and 42 this year as of Monday, according to KXAN-TV. 

In February, the department said the city was experiencing roughly one murder a week, FOX 7 reported. 

Austin’s 89 murders in 2021 came after the Austin City Council defunded the police in 2020, which caused massive staffing shortages that prevented police from responding to non-emergency calls. The previous record was 59 in 1984, long before Austin standardized its ambulance services and had the two level one trauma centers it has now. 

"I've watched it for the last five, six, seven years, and it just gets a little worse," Goss said. "I see more open drug use in this neighborhood, more drug dealing.

"They’re not out here protecting me or my 85-year-old heart transplant neighbor or the widow that's in her 70s next door," he added.

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Fox News Digital has reached out to the Austin Police Department and Kelly for comment.  

Dr. Mark Chavez was allowed to remain free on bond after conspiring to distribute surgical anesthetic ketamine to late actor Matthew Perry.

Chavez appeared in Los Angeles court on Friday after reaching a plea agreement earlier this month. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth told him he could remain free on bond with several restrictions, including turning over his passport and not working as a doctor.

Chavez did not enter his guilty plea or speak about the case, which he will do with another judge at a date to be determined.

Once he enters his guilty plea, Chavez could be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison.

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While speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Dr. Mark Chavez’s attorney, Matthew Binninger, said Chavez "is incredibly remorseful for what happened. Not just because it happened to Matthew Perry, but because it happened to a patient. He is trying to do everything in his power to right the wrong that happened here."

Binninger added that his client "didn’t accept responsibility today, but only because it wasn’t on the calendar," noting that he plans to do so at a change of plea hearing in the coming weeks.

Perry's death on Oct. 28 was caused by "acute effects of ketamine," according to his autopsy, which was completed on Oct. 29. Drowning, coronary artery disease and buprenorphine effects were listed as contributing factors.

Chavez agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine as part of his plea agreement. The San Diego-based doctor admitted to selling ketamine to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, including ketamine that he had diverted from his former clinic.

Chavez previously ran a ketamine clinic and allegedly submitted a bogus prescription in the name of a former patient to secure the drug. Plasencia allegedly taught Perry's assistant how to inject the actor with the drug.

Perry had been looking to find an additional ketamine source in the month before his death after the doctor he had been using wouldn't give him more of the drug, according to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

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Perry came across Plasencia, who reached out to Chavez for the ketamine.

"I wonder how much this moron will pay," Plasencia texted Chavez, court documents showed. "Let's find out."

Plasencia pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

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Three others were charged in connection to Perry's death.

Perry's assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, causing death. Iwamasa admitted to repeatedly injecting Perry with ketamine without medical training, including performing multiple injections on the day Perry died.

Jasveen Sangha, aka "The Ketamine Queen," was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine. She is also charged with one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine.

Erik Fleming, who admitted to working as a middleman between Sangha and Iwamasa, pleaded guilty on Aug. 8 to one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death. Fleming admitted in court documents that he distributed the ketamine that killed Perry.

The ketamine allegedly provided by Sangha and delivered to Iwamasa by Fleming killed Perry on Oct. 28, according to court documents.

That morning, Perry's assistant administered a shot of ketamine to the actor around 8:30. By 12:45 p.m., Perry had instructed Iwamasa to give him another injection while the "Friends" star watched a movie. Roughly 40 minutes later, Perry requested another injection, allegedly telling Iwamasa, "Shoot me up with a big one," according to the plea agreement.

The live-in assistant administered a third injection to Perry while the 54-year-old was near or in a Jacuzzi. Iwamasa then left the home to run errands for Perry. When he returned, the assistant found Perry "face down" in the Jacuzzi, deceased.

The three then worked together to cover up their involvement in Perry's death, authorities alleged. 

Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright and The Associated Press contributed to this report.