Details of what led to the Austin shooting were revealed in the warrant

A warrant filed last month in Bexar County provides new insight into what law enforcement says led Shane James Jr., a former U.S. Army officer accused of fatally shooting six people during a multi-county rampage on Dec. 5, to kill his parents in Bexar County, along with details about the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

James now faces multiple murder charges in Bexar County, according to copies of charging documents filed May 16 and obtained by the American-Statesman.

Authorities say James, 35, killed his parents – Phyllis James, 55, and Shane James Sr., 56 – in their home in eastern Bexar County, then drove to Austin, where he killed four other people – Emmanuela Pop Ba, 33; Sabrina Rahman, 25; Catherine Short, 56; and Lauren Short, 30 – and injured three people, including two police officers.

James currently faces seven charges in Travis County: four counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. Travis County Jail records show he faces three unspecified misdemeanor counts out of the county as well as a capital murder charge in Bexar County.

James told deputies he felt a sense of “imminent doom” before the shooting.

James’ siblings told Bexar County sheriff’s deputies that he suffered from schizophrenia and continued to “decompensate for his mental condition” after being discharged in 2015 for “unacceptable conduct.”

This is the first time a specific mental health diagnosis has been made for James, as other documents do not state what the diagnosis was or whether the information was redacted.

The document notes that about two weeks after the killings, James told Bexar County deputies that he felt “impending doom and things were getting worse” before the shooting.

James told deputies that on the morning of December 5, he “angrily” watched YouTube videos and posted notes on the wall. He went to ask his father a question and his father “joked.” That’s when James went to his room, grabbed a gun and killed both of his parents, the charging document says.

The document shows that he dragged the bodies to the bathroom.

James then took his mother’s keys and money. The neighbor’s surveillance video shows her vehicle leaving the house on December 5 around 7:40 a.m., according to the document.

After James was arrested that day, an Austin Police Department detective told him that police had tried to contact his parents and said they had seen James smiling, according to the charging document.

James’ siblings arrived at the home on December 5 to find law enforcement officers in what they believed to be a surprise. They showed up at the house after failing to contact their parents several times earlier in the day.

Deputies found “words, phrases and notes pinned to the wall” of James’ room, as well as several journals and a laptop. Details of the content of these notes were not included in the charging document.

Sandra Pickell, public information officer for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, did not respond to questions about what was hanging on the walls, what movies James watched and what question he asked his father, noting that certain details were “intentionally omitted to protect certain information.” “

James expected to appear in court in August

An update on James’ charges in Bexar County was first heard during a pretrial hearing Tuesday in Travis County’s 147th District Court. Lawyers were reviewing an “extensive” amount of evidence, James’ court-appointed lawyer, Russ Hunt Jr., said.