SAN ANTONIO – The San Antonio man accused of a violent rampage in Austin and Bexar County that left six people dead, including his parents had a pre-trial hearing in Austin on Thursday.
The hearing took place in the 147th District Court in Travis County.
Shane James Jr. is facing four counts of capital murder and two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant.
James Jr. was not in the courtroom on Thursday for the procedural hearing.
He has been held in the Travis County Jail without bond since Dec. 5 after a string of attacks. His next hearing is scheduled for April.
So far, he has not given investigators any clues about a motive for the crimes for which he is accused.
Here is a timeline of the Dec. 5 violence provided by Austin police:
- 10:41 a.m. — James Jr. is accused of shooting an Austin ISD officer in the parking lot of Northeast Early College High School in northeast Austin, off Highway 290. The officer was identified as Val Barnes, a 28-year veteran. Barnes was in his patrol vehicle and startled James Jr. in the parking lot. James Jr. fired at Barnes and then got in a car, a dark gray Nissan Versa, and drove away, investigators said. Barnes, who was shot once in each leg, drove himself to get help.
- 11:59 a.m. — Police received a call for a drive-by shooting on Shadywood Drive. Based on eyewitness accounts and surveillance video from homes in the area, James Jr. is accused of walking up to Emmanuel Pop Ba, 32, and shooting him. His friend, Sabrina Rahman, 24, ran with her baby in a stroller to the door of a home. A video shows a man, believed to be James Jr., getting out of a dark SUV, running to the door where Rahman was, then getting back into the SUV and leaving. Pop Ba died at the scene, and Rahman was transported to a local hospital, where she later died.
- 5:47 p.m. — A man was shot while riding his bicycle in the 5700 block of Slaughter Lane.
- 6:49 p.m. — Officers responded to a burglary in progress on Austral Loop. A man called 911 to report that he received a notification on his alarm system and saw video of a man kicking in the door of the home. He said his wife and daughter were inside the home. Officers arrived within two minutes and saw a man inside the home. The man ran to the backyard where he fired at an officer, hitting him multiple times. The man drove off in a stolen Acura.
- 7 p.m. — Police pursued him, James Jr. lost control and crossed into oncoming traffic and crashed into another motorist. That motorist suffered minor injuries. Shane James Jr. was identified after he exited the Acura, raised his hands and was arrested without further incident. Officers found the bodies of Katherine Short, 56 and Lauren Short, 30, inside the home on Austral Loop.
- 7:45 p.m. — The Bexar County Sheriff’s office was notified about James Jr.’s alleged crime spree and went to his residence on Port Royal in the Mission Hill community near Kirby to perform a welfare check. Deputies forced entry into the home and found the bodies of a man and a woman identified as James Jr.’s parents, 55-year-old Phyllis James Jr. and 56-year-old Shane James Sr.
Police said James Jr. used the same weapon in all of the shootings — a 1911 .45-caliber pistol that he purchased legally in July 2022 from a private seller. The seller told investigators that James Jr. showed the appropriate identification during the purchase.
In December, Investigators said they do not know what James Jr. was doing in the nearly six hours that is unaccounted for in the day’s timeline.
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