Texas shooting spree suspect tried to escape custody after being arrested, report says
AUSTIN, Texas - The man charged with a shooting spree that ended with six people dead in Austin and San Antonio reportedly attempted to escape police custody after his arrest.
According to the Austin-American Statesman, he tried to escape the Travis County Jail one day after his arrest.
He was reportedly taken down by force.
Meanwhile, the families of those murdered in Austin are in grief and shock.
Security footage reportedly shows the shooter kick in the door to a home where a woman and daughter were later found dead.
There is now a memorial on Shadywood Drive in south Austin.
"She's just the sweetest person in the world," a person said of one of the victims.
The location was one of several across Austin and San Antonio where police said 34-year-old Shane James Jr. carried out his shootings Tuesday.
Man accused of Texas shooting spree had previous arrest in Fort Worth
The man charged with a murder spree that left six people dead in Austin and San Antonio had a previous arrest in Fort Worth.
Among those killed was 24-year-old Sabrina Rahman.
"They've been saying it for the last few months, ‘Hey, we need to move to a little bit safer area,’ and all that. And they just moved here two days before," Rahman’s uncle Marshall Hussain said.
Her family said she was walking with her baby when the shooting happened.
"She pushed the baby behind one of those cars to save the baby. And then he came out of the car and shot her on the face," Hussain said.
Also killed at the location, was Rahman’s friend and handyman, 32-year-old Emmanuel Pop Ba.
His family said he was eating lunch in his truck when he was shot.
The Austin-American Statesmen obtained court records Thursday that show James attempted to escape the Travis County Jail Wednesday.
James was arrested Tuesday night after police said he crashed a stolen car during a high-speed police chase following a shootout with an Austin PD detective.
Police said his rampage began in San Antonio when he killed his parents in their home, before going on to kill four others, and also injure three, including two officers.
Texas shooting spree: 6 dead, 2 officers injured in Austin and Bexar County
Shane James is accused of killing four people and injuring two officers in Austin. He is also believed to be the person responsible for a double homicide in Bexar County.
Law enforcement said he has a history of mental illness.
The Bexar County Sheriff’s Office responded to an incident at his parents’ home in August.
Deputies said he was naked and acting out, and had previously cut off his ankle monitor, but they did not force entry into his room.
He only faced misdemeanor charges in 2022 for pushing or shoving his parents and a sibling, and cutting off an ankle monitor didn’t become a crime until September.
"It really doesn't seem like a circumstance that a monitor was probably really even needed, in the original bond, or made a difference at all in what happened," Amber Vasquez said.
Vasquez is an attorney not involved in the case.
She said it’s unlikely the ankle monitor made much of a difference, given how minor his previous charges were at the time.
"It seems that we start focusing on that. We're going to get distracted from, I think, the real issues, which were signs that something was awry with people that knew him before it happened," she added.
At this point, it’s unclear if James could face additional charges for that attempted escape.
He’s already facing charges of capital murder for his deadly shooting spree.