(AUSTIN, Texas) — A 34-year-old suspect was identified Wednesday morning in a series of shootings in Texas on Tuesday that left six dead and injured several others, including two police officers, authorities said.
Austin police investigators “strongly believe” the suspect, Shane James, is connected to the violent incidents and was charged with capital murder, authorities said, adding that more charges were pending.
Interim Police Chief Robin Henderson said the incidents occurred at different locations in Austin over an eight-hour period on Tuesday, beginning with the shooting of an Austin Independent School District police officer.
Investigators are actively working to determine any relationship James may have had with the people who were shot and what prompted the violence. The two victims found at the home in San Antonio are believed to be family members of the alleged shooter, though that is not yet confirmed by detectives.
“Based on the information obtained over the course of these investigations, we strongly believe one suspect is responsible for all of the incidents,” Henderson said at a news conference Tuesday night.
Austin police officers said they were investigating whether the suspect had been involved in the shootings throughout the city. Two of the injured were police officers, law enforcement said.
Additionally, law enforcement officials in Bexar County said they were investigating whether another shooting that left two dead in a “grisly” crime scene near San Antonio was connected to the Austin shootings.
The series of shootings in Austin began at about 10:43 a.m. on Tuesday, when a resource officer was shot and injured near Northeast Early College High School, police said.
About two hours later, a man and a woman were fatally shot near Shadywood Drive on Austin’s south side, police said.
A cyclist then called 911 at about 5 p.m. to report he’d been shot and injured near the 5700 block of West Slaughter Lane, police said.
Officers then responded to a possible burglary just before 6 p.m. on Tuesday near the 5300 block of Austral Loop. Police and the suspect exchanged gunfire and one of the responding officers was hit multiple times, police said. The officer was later transferred to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to officials.
The suspect then allegedly led officers on a high-speed vehicular pursuit that ended in a crash of the vehicle the suspect was driving, police said, adding that the suspect was arrested with a firearm in his possession.
While the pursuit was in progress, officers went inside the residence that was allegedly burglarized on Austral Loop and discovered two people dead from gunshot wounds, officials said.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said he was contacted by Austin police officers on Tuesday evening and was told the suspect had a connection to a residence in San Antonio.
When deputies arrived at that residence, they forced entry and found two additional people, believed to be in either their 40s or 50s, with fatal gunshot wounds, police said. The bodies were wedged inside a very small room. Officials described the scene as “grisly.”
Sheriff Salazar said it wasn’t yet clear if the suspect had any connection to the people found dead in the house. He said officials believed the killings near San Antonio happened first and then the suspect went to Austin.
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