The alleged Texas mass shooter arrested in a deadly trail of violence stretching from San Antonio to Austin began his daylong rampage by killing his parents, with whom he had once been court-ordered to cut ties, police said.
Shane James, 34, was charged early Wednesday with two counts of capital murder after allegedly spending all day terrorizing multiple communities, which ended with James crashing his car later that night during a police chase.
James has a history of mental health problems, but has a trail of violent outbursts.
He has a prior arrest on charges of assaulting family members and was discharged from the military for a domestic violence incident, authorities said.
His parents, Phyllis James, 55, and Shane James Sr., 56, were found dead in their San Antonio-area home after James had already been arrested for the shooting, the Bexar County sheriff said. , Javier Salazar, at a press conference.
Officers arrived at the home to find water running through the front door and the bodies of the couple inside, who authorities said were killed overnight Monday or in the early hours of Tuesday.
“We know that there were at least several large-caliber handgun shots,” Salazar said, adding that they were hit in the “upper part of the body.”
Shane James allegedly killed six people and injured three others in a shooting that stretched from San Antonio to Austin. Austin Police Department
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 an officer with the city’s Independent School District Police Department in the leg around 10:45 a.m. before arriving at a nearby home to kill a man and a woman, Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32. years old, and Sabrina Rahman, 24.
A witness said James shot Ba, a maintenance man, while he was sitting in his truck outside the house and then chased Rahman down the street, where he shot her to death.
A third shooting took place in South Austin around 4:43 p.m. when a bicyclist reported he was shot and suffering from non-life-threatening injuries.
James’ parents, Phyllis James and Shane James Sr., were found dead in their San Antonio-area home after James had already been arrested for the shooting. Facebook/Bexar County Sheriff’s Office
Police finally caught up with James just before 7 p.m. when they found him in the backyard of a house that had been reported to have been burglarized along with the bodies of two people he allegedly killed.
He is then accused of shooting at responding police officers, wounding two of them, before fleeing and starting a brief police chase.
It is unclear what relationship, if any, James had to the victims in the Austin area.
He was booked on an outstanding warrant for assault causing injury and family violence, in addition to the two counts of murder. More charges are anticipated.
James was arrested after crashing his car during a police chase. Jay Janner/RED USA TODAY
James was arrested in January 2022 on charges of misdemeanor assault on his parents and brother, with conditions of his bond that he have “no contact with the victims,” according to Salazar.
Two weeks later, the family told a victim advocate liaison that he had mental health problems and asked that his conditions be changed, adding that he did not belong in prison.
James cut off his ankle monitor the day after his release, triggering a misdemeanor probation violation warrant, Salazar said. Cutting off an ankle monitor has since become a serious crime.
Police were called to his parents’ home in August when it was reported that James was naked in the garden and acting strangely. They entered the house but did not arrest James because he had barricaded himself in a bedroom, Salazar said.
Deputies were unable to force entry into the room due to the limitations of a misdemeanor warrant and eventually left the home, telling James’ father to contact them when his son came out so they could arrest him, the sheriff said. .
His father did not heed the request and the police made no further attempt to carry out the arrest.
“It’s always possible that we could have done more if they could have gotten their hands on him safely,” Salazar said. “They were doing everything they could 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 were unaware that James had been discharged from the military for a “domestic incident of some kind,” the details of which remain unclear, Salazar said.
James had been arrested in January 2022 on charges of misdemeanor assault on his parents and a brother. Facebook/Bexar County Sheriff’s Office
James is a former U.S. Army infantry officer who served from February 2013 to August 2015, according to Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokeswoman. He had no deployments and his last rank was first lieutenant.
In a statement, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said the state would “bring the full weight of the law to bear on this criminal for his despicable crimes.”
“We Texans mourn the loved ones of the six Texans who were murdered by a hardened criminal who should never again see the light of day,” Abbott said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn