Travis County DA to take lead on San Antonio-Austin shooting rampage case, prosecutors say
The Travis County district attorney's office will lead the prosecution of a former U.S. Army officer accused of killing six during a shooting rampage in Austin and Bexar County in December, prosecutors told a judge in court Thursday.
On Feb. 12, a Travis County grand jury indicted Shane James Jr., 34, on capital murder charges for the deaths of four Austin residents, online court records show. The brief Thursday hearing marked the first time the case was discussed in open court.
The Bexar County district attorney's office asked Travis County to take the lead on the case, Travis County prosecutor Guillermo Gonzalez told 147th District Judge Cliff Brown during the hearing. James did not appear in court, and one of his court-appointed defense attorneys, Russ Hunt, spoke on his behalf.
Most of the reported shootings occurred in Travis County. During a more than eight-hour shooting tear across Austin, police say, James killed four people — Emmanuel Pop Ba, 33; Sabrina Rahman, 25; Katherine Short, 56; and Lauren Short, 30 — and injured three, including two police officers.
Authorities in Bexar County have accused James of killing his parents — Phyllis James, 55, and Shane James Sr., 56 — at their homes in eastern Bexar County.
Charges for those deaths have not been filed as of Thursday but are coming "in the near future," Bexar County sheriff's office spokesperson Sandra Altamirano Pickell told the American-Statesman.
Brown set the next court hearing for April 11, asking that arrangements be made for James to appear in court.
James repeatedly crossed paths with law enforcement dating to at least 2014, records obtained by the Statesman show, including during his abbreviated service in the Army and during a reported mental health crisis at his parents' home three months before the Dec. 5 shootings.
Austin police say James bought the .45-caliber handgun he used in the shootings from a private seller in July 2022, skirting a federal background check. The purchase would break James' bail conditions — for which he had an active warrant out for his arrest — from a misdemeanor family assault arrest in January 2022, court records show.
Prosecutors are requesting the court issue a number of subpoenas relating to the case, online court records show, including for records from James' previous employers. Among his previous employers is a San Antonio gun store, a store manager confirmed.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Travis County DA to take lead on multicounty shooting rampage case
