The suspected Texas mass shooter arrested for a deadly trail of violence stretching from San Antonio to Austin started his day-long rampage by killing his parents — whom he had once been court-ordered to cut ties with, police said.
Shane James, 34, was charged early Wednesday with two counts of capital murder after allegedly spending the entire day terrorizing multiple communities that ended with James crashing his car later that evening during a police pursuit.
James has a history of mental health problems but does have a trail of violent outbursts.
He has a prior arrest on charges of assaulting family members and was discharged from the military over a domestic violence incident, authorities said.
His parents, Phyllis James, 55, and Shane James Sr., 56, were found dead in their home in the San Antonio area after James had already been arrested for the shooting spree, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a news conference.
Officers arrived at the house to find water running from the front door and the bodies of the couple inside, who officials believed were killed overnight Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday.
“We know that it was at least several gunshots from a large caliber handgun,” Salazar said, adding that they were struck in the “upper body.”
James allegedly stole his father’s truck after killing his parents and fled more than 80 miles to Austin, where he continued his bloody terror — this time shooting indiscriminately.
The gunmen shot a city Independent School District Police Department officer in the leg around 10:45 a.m. before arriving to a nearby home to kill a man and a woman, Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, and Sabrina Rahman, 24.
A witness said James shot the Ba, a handyman, while he was sitting in his truck outside the home and then chased Rahman down the street, where he gunned her down.
A third shooting took place in South Austin at around 4:43 p.m. when a cyclist reported they were shot and suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.
Police finally caught up with James just before 7 p.m. when they found him in the backyard of a home that was reported as being burglarized alongside the bodies of two people he allegedly killed.
He then is accused of shooting at the responding cops, striking two of them, before fleeing and igniting a short-lived police chase.
It is not clear what, if any, relationship James had with the victims in the Austin area.
He was booked in for an outstanding Assault with injury family violence warrant in addition to the two murder charges. Further charges are anticipated.
James was arrested in January 2022 on charges of misdemeanor assault of his parents and a sibling, with the conditions of his bond that he have “no contact whatsoever with the victims,” according to Salazar.
Two weeks later, the family told a victim advocates liaison that he had mental health problems and asked that the conditions be changed, adding that he didn’t belong in jail.
James cut off his ankle monitor the day after he was released, prompting a misdemeanor probation violation warrant, Salazar said. Cutting off an ankle monitor has since been upgraded to a felony.
Police were called to his parents’ house in August when James was reported to be naked in the yard and behaving strangely. They went into the home but did not arrest James because he had barricaded himself in a bedroom, Salazar said.
Deputies were not able to force their way into the room due to the limitations of a misdemeanor warrant and ultimately left the home, telling James’ father to contact them when his son emerged so they could arrest him, the sheriff said.
His father didn’t heed the request and police made no other attempts at executing the arrest.
“It’s always possible we could have done more, had they been able to safely put hands on him,” Salazar said. “They were making every effort to avoid a violent confrontation with an unarmed man. That is a no-win situation for them.”
At the time of the numerous incidents, officials did not know that James had been discharged from the military over a “domestic incident of some sort,” the details of which are still unclear, Salazar said.
James is a former US Army infantry officer who served from February 2013 to August 2015, according to Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, Army spokesperson. He had no deployments and his last rank was first lieutenant.
In a statement, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the state would “impose the full weight of law on this criminal for his despicable crimes.”
“Texans grieve for the loved ones of the six Texans who were murdered by a hardened criminal who must never see the light of day again,” Abbott said.
With Post Wires
