Police release bodycam video of shooting involving officer, suspect in Austin shooting spree

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department released video from officers' body-worn cameras that captured the moments leading up to and following a shooting that was part of a shooting spree across Central Texas earlier this month.

Additionally, APD identified the officer who was shot and injured in the incident as Detective Joseph Strother. After the shooting, Strother was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, where he was treated and later released to recover at home, police said.   

On Monday, APD released body-worn camera from Strother and Officer Khristof Oborski.

Police also released one police radio traffic audio file, and all three videos can be viewed on APD's YouTube Channel.

Shane James, 34, is accused of killing six people and injuring three others during a series of shooting Austin and Bexar County on Dec. 5.

James is facing 10 charges, including multiple capital murder and aggravated assault charges, court records state.

Police responded at 6:49 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, to a burglary call in the 5300 block of Austral Loop, which is in southwest Austin. According to an affidavit detailing the incident, the caller reported that he was “viewing a live feed of his surveillance system” and saw a man actively breaking into his home where his wife and special needs daughter were at the time.

When officers got there they saw the suspect, identified by APD as James, was in the house and trying to run out of the back of the house, the affidavit said. That’s when James shot at an officer and the officer was hit multiple times. According to APD, the officer shot back but the suspect was not hit.

"Obviously, now we know he was a very serious threat and was involved in a number of incidents that nobody knew at the time," said incoming Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock about the officers' knowledge of the suspect at the onset of the Austral Loop scene. "And the officers involved on this particular call, they had no idea."

As more officers and first responders arrived on the scene around 6:58 p.m., James drove away from the scene in a vehicle he stole from the home on Austral Loop, the release said.

While officers chased James, detectives went into the family’s home, where they found Katherine Short, 56, and Lauren Short, 31, dead in the house with multiple gunshot wounds, according to investigators.

Around 7:14 p.m., a police chase began with James, where he later crashed a stolen vehicle at the intersection of SH 45 and FM 1826 and was taken into custody, the release said.

APD policy requires that footage captured during officer-involved shootings be released within 10 business days of the incident.