HOUSTON – A man is behind bars, accused of pretending to be a minor to meet up with a child predator under the false pretense of having sex, only to shoot and kill him.
The suspect in the case is said to have taken matters into his own hands because he didn’t believe police were doing enough to keep child predators behind bars and wanted to harm them.
22-year-old James Spencer III stood before a judge, who found probable cause to move forward with the murder charge he faces.
“You’re here for the first degree felony offense of murder,” the judge said.
The details of the allegations, bizarre, even for Victim Services Director of Houston Crime Stoppers Andy Kahan.
“This was diabolically cunning,” Kahan said. “When I look at this, I’m going ‘this is the stuff you see in movies.’”
Spencer III was arrested by the Gulf Coast Violent Offenders Task Force Wednesday. Houston Police say last May, he pretended to be a minor online and pretended to want to have sex with 37-year-old Sean Connery Showers, who he believed was a child predator. When the two met up, officials say Spencer III shot Showers multiple times, leaving him dead in a ditch at 900 Northwood Street.
“This guy had to have done a lot of deep background, had to prepare for this. This was not some random spur of the moment deal,” Kahan said.
Documents show Showers did serve federal time for being in possession of child pornography and also failed to register as a sex offender. Even if Showers planned to offend again, Kahan says the killing was not justified.
“Nobody should be taking the law into their own hands. He completed his sentence, yes he didn’t register, but this is taking it way too far,” Kahan said.
Spencer III is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $250,000 bond. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.