Austin police ID mother, daughter killed in Circle C shooting rampage

Ella McCarthy and Skye Seipp, Austin American-Statesman
Updated ·2 min read

A mother and her daughter have been identified as the final two people killed in Tuesday's rampage in Austin that left four people dead and three others injured.

The Austin Police Department said Katherine Short, 56, and Lauren Short, 30, were found dead with gunshot wounds inside their home at 5376 Austral Loop in the Circle C neighborhood. Katherine Short's husband and Lauren Short's father, who was not home at the time, called 911 after he saw someone breaking into the home and said his wife and daughter were there, court records show.

That person was later identified as Shane James Jr., whom police arrested and charged with killing Katherine and Lauren Short, along with his parents in Bexar County and two other people in Austin.

During a review of security camera footage from the home, a responding officer said he witnessed James holding a pistol and attempting to kick in the door, records state.

Flowers are left outside the house on Austral Loop in the Circle C Ranch neighborhood where Katherine Short, 56, and daughter Lauren Short, 30, were killed Tuesday.
Flowers are left outside the house on Austral Loop in the Circle C Ranch neighborhood where Katherine Short, 56, and daughter Lauren Short, 30, were killed Tuesday.

Robin Arnold, who was a friend of the Shorts and lives on Austral Loop, described the mother and daughter as mild-mannered, sweet people. She said Katherine Short, whom she knew as Kathy, used to volunteer at the library at nearby Kiker Elementary School.

“Just a very pleasant, easygoing, sweet-natured person,” Arnold said of Katherine Short.

She said the Shorts had lived in the neighborhood at least as long as her own family — about two decades.

"I just can't get my head around it," Arnold said of the slayings.

Katherine Short's husband told police that their daughter had "special needs," according to a probable cause arrest affidavit for James.

Circle C neighbors recall shooting

The Circle C neighborhood near La Crosse Avenue and MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) is a quiet and tight-knit community filled with families, residents told the American-Statesman. When helicopters began circling the area Wednesday evening, several residents knew something was wrong.

Cilla Parkinson, who lives a few houses away from where the shooting occurred, said she sheltered in place Wednesday evening as the situation unfolded.

A crime scene investigator works Wednesday at the scene of Tuesday's fatal shootings on Austral Loop in Southwest Austin.
A crime scene investigator works Wednesday at the scene of Tuesday's fatal shootings on Austral Loop in Southwest Austin.

She heard the choppers overhead and the sirens getting closer to her house, and neighbors were texting that they heard gunshots close by.

"We all were like, 'shut it down, get inside,'" Parkinson said.

She got her 6-year-old son, fell quiet, turned off the lights and went to an interior, windowless room. Parkinson recalled her son asking what was going on.

"I was like, 'Buddy, I hate to tell you this, but there's a bad guy in the neighborhood,'" Parkinson said.

She said she sheltered in place for around an hour and a half.

"It's just surreal," Arnold said, tearing up. "Stuff like that doesn't happen in our neighborhood."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin police ID mother, daughter killed in shooting on Austral Loop