A Texas man posed as a minor online and lured a convicted sex offender to a meeting, where he was shot to death in a "planned execution," authorities said.
A Texas man has been charged with first-degree murder after he allegedly posed as a minor online and lured a convicted sex offender to a meeting, where he shot the man to death in a "planned execution," authorities said.
James Lewis Spencer, 24, is behind bars at the Harris County Jail in Houston, according to jail records. His bail was raised Monday to $350,000 from an initial bond of $250,000, court records show.
Spencer was arrested Wednesday, Houston police said. He has not entered a plea, according to court documents.
Inside Edition Digital has reached out for comment to his public defender.
Spencer was taken into custody following a months-long investigation into the shooting death of Sean Connery Showers, whose body was found, with multiple gunshot wounds, in a ditch on May 29 of last year, authorities said.
Surveillance video showed a car stopping at 3:50 a.m. on the street where Showers' body was later found, and the driver firing numerous rounds before speeding off, police said.
Investigators searched Showers' cellphone, found under his body, to determine he had been going to a nearby park to meet up with someone he believed was underage, authorities said.
"The communications were sexual in nature," prosecutor Rehman Merchant said in a press conference following Spencer's arrest.
Spencer had previoulsy told a witness that he “believed the police were not doing enough to keep pedophiles incarcerated and the defendant wanted to rob and harm those type of men (because) they would do bad things to little children and other people," an arrest affidavit alleged.
Showers had pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography in 2009, and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. He was required to register as a sex offender for life, according to online court records.
In 2019, he was sentenced to two years in prison for failing to register as a sex offender, court records show.
Showers and Spencer discussed "dealings or past interactions with children or underage individuals," Merchant, the prosecutor, said at last week's press conference.
"Look, regardless of the likability of the victim, we're a nation of laws," Merchant said. "No one gets to be judge, jury, and executioner depending on how they feel.
"To be frank, this is a planned execution," Merchant said. "I think he targeted an individual, he set up a meet, knew where he was going to be, and then discharged a weapon multiple times and then just went back home like nothing happened."
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