Texans ‘heartbroken, angered’ by Austin-San Antonio killings

Texans have been shook by the news of a series of shooting events that occurred in Central Texas by allegedly one man on Thursday, December 5. A Texas man with connections to the San Antonio area is being accused of killing six people across jurisdictions from Austin to San Antonio. 

Shane Matthew James Jr. was identified by KXAN and KVUE reports as a person of interest who, authorities claim, may be responsible for several homicides as well as the shootings of an Austin Independent School District officer and an Austin police officer. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar revealed late Tuesday that Austin PD told him James had ties to an East San Antonio home where a man and woman in their 50s were killed. Salazar believes could’ve been where he began his killing spree. 

Texas State Representative Vikki Goodwin, whose District 47 includes the Austin area, reacted to the killings in a post on X, writing “Heartbroken and angered by the recent events in our community: Austin reels with 4 dead, 1 injured, and 2 officers hurt; San Antonio grieves 2 more lost. This chain of violence tearing through our communities must end.”

An Austin subReddit thread is still talking about the series of events from Tuesday as true crime enthusiasts comments range from thoughts on the first incident to the last. Reddit user, lizzzy143 said, “Wow. This story gets crazier and crazier. I’m glad he’s been caught.” 

User singletonaustin said on Reddit, “The school resource officer who was shot may have prevented a mass shooting event at that school. The suspect was at school with a gun and allegedly had already murdered two people in San Antonio. We’ll learn more in the coming days but right now it seems like we avoided a school shooting thanks to that officer.”

On X, @AndJustice4Sum said, “Literally 10 hours after they arrested #ShaneJames in the #Austin #SanAntonio killing spree and I’ve yet to see a photo.”

X user, @monalisasworld said, “some a**hole went on a killing spree from san antonio to austin yesterday. wtf is happening, this is awful. so tired of all the guns and people who shouldn’t have access to them killing and terrorizing the rest of us.”

The news has been recognized nationally, and TikTok videos from national news reports like CBS Mornings have TikTokers enraged in the comment section. TikTok user, @user337687252 said under the CBS video, “I’m sure Texas will bring Chicago in the conversation about crime” and TikToker, @dcal1963 said, “Texas? Where’s the good guy with the gun.”