Suspect in Austin shooting rampage bought gun after 2022 assault arrest, police say

Shane James Jr., the former U.S. Army officer accused of killing six people and injuring three in Austin and Bexar County last week, purchased the handgun used in the shootings seven months after his arrest on family assault charges.

Details about the firearm purchase were disclosed during an Austin Police Department news conference Tuesday, marking one week since the Dec. 5 shootings. Officials provided the most detailed account to date of the eight-hour string of shootings that stretched more than a dozen miles across the city and left four Austin residents dead and three injured, including two police officers.

James, 34, who authorities have said has a history of mental health issues, used a .45-caliber handgun he purchased in July 2022 in a "private, individual sale," Austin police Sgt. Nathan Sexton said during the nearly one-hour news conference.

Private sales of firearms by individuals or unlicensed vendors do not require a federal background check. At the time of the purchase, James was out on bond from a January 2022 arrest in Bexar County. His bond conditions barred him from purchasing or possessing a firearm, according to court records.

Detailed publicly for the first time was that James had a previous interaction with Austin police. In 2018, officers placed James in "emergency detention" after responding to a church in Northwest Austin where James was "experiencing suicidal ideations," Sgt. Peter Kovach said.

James' connection, if any, to the church was not expanded upon or immediately clear. Previously, police have said James had "minimal involvement" in Austin, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit.

Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said efforts to alert the public during the shootings were undercut by the frequency of the attacks, discrepancies in reported physical descriptions of James and the fact James commandeered three vehicles during shootings.

The shooting, she added, covered a sweeping area, beginning near a Northeast Austin high school and stretching into residential subdivisions in Austin's southwest in the evening. Police did not determine the shootings were connected until midevening, Henderson said, attributing the delay to the "sporadic nature" of the incidents.

In the days since the shootings, some Austin residents, including those living in the neighborhoods where the shootings occurred, have questioned why they were not made aware that a gunman was at large.

"At the time of the initial incident, there was no indication that there was an ongoing threat to the public, and, as stated, it wasn't until hours later that we were able to tie that same suspect to that incident," Henderson said, publicly fielding questions about the shootings for the first time since the Dec. 5 killings.

James remained in custody at Travis County Jail, where he attempted to escape the day after his arrest, according to the affidavit. He faces four counts of capital murder; two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant, a first-degree felony; and a mass shooting aggravated assault charge, a first-degree felony.

A conviction on capital murder — a charge typically used in cases in which a defendant kills a police officer or young child, kills multiple people or kills someone while committing another felony like robbery or rape — could result in a punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Additionally, unlike when a defendant faces felony murder charges, prosecutors could seek the death penalty.

Additional charges forthcoming in Bexar County

Sometime before the Austin shootings, James shot and killed his parents at their home, where he also lived, in eastern Bexar County, police said. James killed his parents — Shane James Sr., 56, and Phyllis James, 55 — sometime between the late evening of Dec. 4 and the early morning of Dec. 5, according to law enforcement.

The Bexar County medical examiner's office ruled the parents' death as homicides. Both died from gunshot wounds to the head, said Jerry Morales, an office assistant in the medical examiner's office.

What additional charges James might face in Bexar County remains to be seen. In a statement Tuesday, Adelina Simpson, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office, said officials are aiming to file additional charges "as soon as possible."

At the time of the Dec. 5 shootings, James had three outstanding misdemeanor charges in Bexar County for assault against his parents and a sibling stemming from an arrest in January 2022, according to court records.

Weeks later, after bonding out of jail, James removed his ankle monitor, triggering authorities to put a warrant out for his arrest. That warrant was outstanding at the time of the shootings, according to court records.

Timeline of Austin shooting rampage on Dec. 5

Before 11 a.m. Dec. 5, Sgt. Val Barnes, a 29-year officer with Austin Independent School District, was shot in the leg at a baseball field near Northeast Early College High School. Barnes was released from a hospital later in the day.

At about noon, after fleeing from the high school, James fatally shot Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, and Sabrina Rahman, 24, near the 7300 block of Shadywood Drive in South Austin — about 15 miles south of the high school, police said. James' gunfire "narrowly" missed Rahman's 1-year-old infant, whom the mother was pushing in a stroller at the time of the shooting, police said.

Before 5 p.m., James shot a cyclist who was biking near 5701 W. Slaughter Lane in Southwest Austin — about 6 miles from the shooting at Shadywood Drive, police said. The cyclist, whom police have not publicly identified, suffered injuries police described as not life-threatening.

More than an hour and a half later, James broke into a home in the 5300 block of Austral Loop in the Circle C neighborhood — within 2 miles of where he had shot the cyclist, police said. Once inside, James shot and killed Kathy Short, 56, and her daughter, Lauren Short, 30, police said.

The father called 911 after seeing James attempting to break in on the home's doorbell camera, according to the affidavit. A detective, responding to the burglary call, arrived at the Austral Loop home and exchanged gunfire with James.

James shot the detective, whom police have not publicly identified, "multiple times," but the officer has since recovered.

Afterward, James stole the Shorts' vehicle, an Acura sedan, and led police on a chase that ended in a two-vehicle crash at the intersection of Texas 45 and RM 1826 — about 3 miles from the Austral Loop home, police said. Police arrested James about 25 minutes after he broke into the Circle C home, police said.

The driver in the other vehicle was released at the scene, Henderson said.

Authorities found a firearm, identified as a .45-caliber handgun, in James' waistband and two magazines in his pocket, according to the affidavit.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Suspect in Austin shooting rampage bought gun in private sale, police say