{"id":481174,"date":"2026-10-30T07:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T07:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/481174\/"},"modified":"2026-10-30T07:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T07:04:07","slug":"testimony-begins-in-trial-of-man-charged-in-austin-san-antonio-shooting-spree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/481174\/","title":{"rendered":"Testimony begins in trial of man charged in Austin-San Antonio shooting spree"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Testimony began Thursday in Travis County in the trial of Shane James, the man charged in a shooting spree in Austin and San Antonio<\/a> that led to the death of six people and left three others injured.<\/p>\n

The Travis County trial centers on capital murder charges related to the death of four people in Austin on December 5, 2023: Sabrina Rahman, Emmanuel Pop Ba, Katherine Short and Lauren Short.<\/p>\n

Three others in Austin suffered injuries in the shooting spree, including Austin ISD Sgt. Val Barnes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Injured Austin ISD Sergeant testifies<\/p>\n

Prosecutors called Barnes to testify first on Thursday. Barnes detailed an encounter with James outside Northeast Early College High School shortly before 11 a.m. on Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Jury selected for Shane James trial, opening arguments expected Thursday<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Testimony<\/p>\n

Testimony began Thursday in Travis County in the trial of Shane James, the man charged in a shooting spree in Austin and San Antonio that led to the death of six people and left three others injured. (Photo: KTBC Pool)<\/p>\n

He testified that James flashed his weapon at him in the school’s parking lot before firing into his SUV. Barnes said he sped off before realizing a bullet went through his leg. The shooting was the first reported encounter with James in Austin on the morning of Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

A student from Northeast Early College High School also testified that she witnessed James fleeing after shooting Barnes. Video taken on her cell phone showed her speeding off with friends in a car to escape the scene.<\/p>\n

Eyewitnesses detail scene on Shadywood Drive<\/p>\n

Eyewitnesses described a gruesome scene on Shadywood Drive in South Austin, where James is accused of fatally shooting Rahman and Pop Ba. <\/p>\n

Augustine Javier Cruz, a land surveyor, said he was working across the street when he heard people yelling.<\/p>\n

KEYE<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He said he saw a man pull another man out of the driver’s seat of a vehicle before shooting him. He then heard a woman scream followed by more gunshots, then saw the shooter take off in the car.<\/p>\n

Joan Smith, a midwife who was at a neighbor’s home, described performing CPR on the woman until first responders arrived. She said the woman’s baby was also on scene.<\/p>\n

“It’s crying, screaming, and I can’t quite describe it. It sounded like distress,” she told the jury of the infant.<\/p>\n

The final witness Thursday was Austin Police Cpl. Mark Foth, who was the first officer on scene.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors played unredacted footage from his body-worn camera, which appeared to show the victims lying unresponsive with visible head wounds.<\/p>\n

James is also accused of shooting and killing his parents<\/a>, Shane James, Sr. and Phyllis James, in their home in Bexar County prior to the shootings in Austin.<\/p>\n

Opening arguments took place ahead of Thursday’s testimony.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors laid out a timeline of events for the jury, detailing each shooting in San Antonio and Austin.<\/p>\n

James’ defense attorneys argued that he was not sane at the time of the shooting spree, laying the groundwork to argue for an insanity defense in the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Testimony began Thursday in Travis County in the trial of Shane James, the man charged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[82,84,83],"class_list":["post-481174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}