A man from Texas has been charged with murder after posing as a minor to lure and kill a convicted sex offender.
Authorities say that in May 2023, James Spencer III, 22, shot and killed Sean Connery Showers, 37, in a 'planned execution'.
The Houston Police Department claim Showers approached a vehicle in the early morning hours of May 29 last year.
This is when he was supposedly shot by the suspect, who at the time remained unidentified.
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Investigations subsequently followed, with local authorities later arresting Spencer, who they say admitted to the brutal killing.
Surveillance footage showed a car stopping at 3:50 am on the street where Showers' body was discovered, with the driving firing numerous shots before speeding off.
Showers was later found in a ditch with multiple gunshot wounds, according to police.
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Through citations from local authorities, Click 2 Houston and ABC 13 reported that Spencer had allegedly claimed to be a minor online to lure Showers, who he believed was a sex offender, with the prospect of sex.
Showers' cellphone was discovered under his body by investigators, where it was revealed that he had been heading to a nearby park to meet up someone that he believed was underage.
In a press conference preceding Spencer's arrest, prosecutor Rehman Merchant described the conversations as 'sexual in nature'.
Showers pleaded guilty to possessing child sex abuse material back in 2009, according to federal authorities.
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ABC 13 reports that Showers was also sentenced to 30 months in prison and then to a further two years in 2019 for failing to register as a sex offender.
Merchant went on to claim Spencer had set up a meeting and knew exactly where Showers would be heading on the night of the murder.
"Regardless of the likability of the victim, we’re a nation of laws," the prosecutor said.
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"So no one gets to be judge, jury and executioner depending on how they feel."
Adding: "To be frank, this is a planned execution. 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."
An arrest affidavit alleged that Spencer had previously 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'.
Spencer has also not entered into a plea deal, court documents say.
Callum Jones