'I'm hit, I'm hit!': Austin police release bodycam footage from deadly shooting rampage
Body camera footage released this week by the Austin Police Department revealed new details about the Dec. 5 shooting rampage from Bexar County to Austin that left six people dead and three others injured.
The footage released shows the instant Austin police Detective Joseph Strother was shot and injured by the suspect in that day's multiple shootings, whom police say is Shane James Jr. Strother returned fire after he noticed James entering the backyard of a home off Austral Loop that the owner said he saw someone breaking into. James was not hit by a bullet.
Video footage shows Strother approach the home with his gun drawn. After a few moments, he sees someone in the house and calls out, "Subject in the house," on his radio. Strother then goes to the backyard and sees James head in that direction. He then opens the gate, and seconds later, gunshots ring out. Strother yells, "I'm hit! I'm hit!" and falls back to take cover.
Monday marked the first time APD named the detective who was injured on Dec. 5.
Video footage from another responding officer, Khristof Oborski, shows him arriving at the home and exiting his vehicle just moments before the gunfire begins. Oborski then yells out on his radio, "Shots fired! Shots fired!"
The department also released police radio audio about the incident, in which the dispatcher says the homeowner saw someone breaking into the home, but a description of the person was not given.
Police did not release any other footage related to James' arrest. The videos are short, with Strother's body camera footage lasting nearly four minutes, while Oborski's was only about a minute.
Police say that James drove to Austin on Dec. 5 sometime after killing his parents at their home in eastern Bexar County. James first went to Northeast Early College High School at about 10:40 a.m., where he shot and injured Sgt. Val Barnes of the Austin Independent School District Police Department.
Almost an hour and a half later, James shot and killed Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, and Sabrina Rahman, 24, who was pushing her baby son in a stroller at the time in her South Austin neighborhood. James "narrowly" missed striking the child, police have said.
Nearly five hours later, police say, James shot and injured a cyclist on a trail near 5701 W. Slaughter Lane in Southwest Austin. James then broke into the home off Austral Loop in the Circle C neighborhood, where police say he killed Kathy and Lauren Short, a mother and daughter.
Police arrived at the home because the husband and father of the deceased mother and daughter saw security camera footage of James attempting to break into the home and called 911. Strother arrived at the home and was shot after confronting James.
James then stole a car from the Shorts' home and was pursued by officers, police said, before ultimately crashing into another vehicle about 3 miles away. James stepped out of the vehicle with his hands up, police said.
Police found a .45-caliber handgun in James' possession, along with two magazines, both of which were empty. James purchased the weapon seven months after he had been arrested on three family violence charges in January 2022.
James remained in custody at Travis County Jail, where he attempted to escape the day after his arrest, according to a probable cause arrest 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.
Interim Austin Police Chief Robin Henderson said in a press conference last week that James also had a previous run-in with Austin police officers in 2018. A church in Northwest Austin called 911 about someone experiencing suicidal ideation, and officers then put James in "emergency detention."
Statesman staff writer Chase Rogers contributed reporting.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Watch: Austin police release body camera footage from shooting rampage
