A “devilishly cunning” vigilante posed as a child online to lure a pedophile into a trap, then shot him dead in a drive-by shootout.
James Lewis Spencer, 24, admitted murdering Sean Connery Showers, 37, after the convicted sex offender's boy was found in Houston on May 29.
He was arrested without incident Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder. He is due in Harris County District Court on Thursday.
“To be honest, this is a planned execution,” said chief prosecutor Rehman Merchant.
“I think he targeted a person, arranged a meeting, knew where he was going to be, then fired a gun multiple times and then just went home like nothing happened.”
Vigilante James Lewis Spencer, 24, posted online as a child to lure a pedophile into a trap, then shot him dead in a drive-by shootout
Surveillance footage showed a car driving toward Showers around 3:50 a.m. and stopping next to him before he was shot multiple times with an automatic weapon.
Police at the time were unable to identify the car or driver, but found Showers' phone under his body with messages indicating he planned to meet someone at a nearby park.
Merchant said Spencer began messaging showers on Kik, a social media app popular among teenagers, by posing as a child and agreed to have sex with him.
“The communication was sexual in nature.” “Officers believe they met at this park to engage in sexual activity,” he said.
“There are some conversations on the phones or between the two of them [Showers’] transactions or previous interactions with children or minors.'
He was arrested without incident Wednesday and charged with first-degree murder. He is due in Harris County District Court on Thursday
Showers was sent to federal prison for 30 months in 2009 for possession of child pornography and was jailed again in 2019 for two years for failing To as a sex offender.
Spencer was eventually identified through phone records and his phone was tracked to and from the crime scene that night.
Investigators spoke to Spencer's girlfriend, who told them he was frustrated that police weren't doing more to lock up pedophiles.
Spencer told her, “He wanted to rob and harm these types of men because they would do bad things to little children and other people and he knew how to track them using an app on the phone,” his bail documents said .
“A month later, the defendant made the same comment: “If the police wouldn’t do anything, maybe he should kill her himself.”
Spencer has not yet entered a plea, but police said he has “admitted his role in the incident.”
Sean Connery Showers, 37, was sent to federal prison for 30 months in 2009 for possession of child pornography and was sentenced again in 2019 to two years in prison for failing To as a sex offender
Merchant said police were trying to access Spencer's phone to find out if he was connected to other murders or attacks on sex offenders.
“Based on the conversation he had with the girlfriend, he had made this type of comment: 'pedophiles' in the plural.” “At the moment we are still investigating that,” he said.
“You see, regardless of the victim's sympathy, we are a nation of laws.” “No one can be judge, jury and executioner based on how they feel.”
Andy Kahan, director of victim services for Houston Crime Stoppers, called Spencer “diabolically clever” and said the case was something you only see in movies.
Spencer was given a $250,000 bond ahead of his next court appearance Monday, but had yet to post the bond because he was still behind bars.
After prosecutors pointed out that he was already out on bail for drug offenses, he was placed on 24-hour house arrest with GPS monitoring and no access to firearms, ammunition or weapons.