Texas deputies confronted but didn't arrest fatal shooting suspect in August, a month before new law
Austin, Texas — A man suspected of killing six people in a shooting rampage through two major Texas cities was confronted by deputies in August during a mental health crisis and could have been arrested for trespassing for cutting off an ankle monitor.
Instead, officers allowed Shane James Jr. – who was naked and shouting obscenities at officers while barricaded behind a bedroom door – left with his family.
If the encounter had occurred just a month later, when a new state law made cutting off an ankle monitor a misdemeanor in state prison, officers could have pulled James from the room and arrested him.
“It's always possible we could have done more,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said. “While we wish the opportunity had arisen to get our hands on him, I have no doubt that the deputies would have done so had they been able to get their hands on him safely.”
James, 34, now faces two counts of capital murder after authorities said he left a trail of violence from his parents' home in the San Antonio area to Austin on Tuesday. Authorities said James killed his parents, Phyllis and Shane James Sr., before driving about 80 miles (129 kilometers) to Austin, killing four more people and injuring three others, including two Austin police officers.
Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, and Sabrina Rahman, 24, were two of the people killed in the rampage, Austin police said.
Texas lawmakers approved a change to the ankle monitor law that could have put James in custody earlier this year. The reason for this was a fatal shooting at a hospital in Dallas in October 2022, in which the shooter had tampered with his ankle ligaments in the past.
James had been arrested in January 2022 on domestic violence charges accused of attacking his parents and a sibling. The family later requested to be released from prison. James cut off the ankle monitor the day after he was released in March 2022. At the time, cutting off an ankle monitor was merely a parole violation.
Officers were called to James' parents' home following his erratic behavior in August this year. The law, which makes tampering with an ankle bracelet a state prison offense punishable by up to two years in prison, would not go into effect until September 1.
In a briefing Wednesday, Salazar described meeting with James in August.
James barricaded himself in a bedroom and shouted racial epithets and other insults at officers. At the time, officers were limited in their use of forcible entry on a misdemeanor warrant compared to a misdemeanor, Salazar said.
James' father forced the door partially open, but officers left without taking the younger James into custody. They instructed the family to call them if he came out and they would arrest him, but they never received a call, the sheriff said.
Salazar said that while cutting off the ankle monitor was not a criminal offense at the time, their processes have changed since the new law came into effect. Now the agency is notified when a suspect cuts off his ankle monitor, and appropriate charges are filed. “Unfortunately, in March 2022, that statute did not yet exist,” Salazar said.
Andy Kahan, victims director of Houston-based Crimes Stoppers, advocated for the law, which passed earlier this year. He said about a dozen states have taken similar measures and James' interactions with police highlight their importance.
“He would have been taken into custody and there would probably be six people alive today,” Kahan said.
Kahan called for a task force to identify other people who have removed their ankle monitors. “The question for the state of Texas is how many others are being sought in a similar manner,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg in Dallas contributed to this report.