Texas man pretended to be a minor online in order to track down sex offender and left him dead in a ditch, police say

A man pretended to be a minor online in order to track down a sex offender and then shot him to death, according to police in Texas.

Court documents indicate that 24-year-old James Lewis Spencer lll made statements to the effect that he would do something about pedophiles if cops were unable to dole out justice.

Spencer is accused of killing 37-year-old Sean Connery Showers in May.

Showers had admitted to possessing child pornography when he was 23 years old. He failed to register as a sex offender and then in 2018, he was arrested for entering the Bellaire High School without notifying the office during standard operating hours.

He served two years for that offense and was let out of prison in 2021, according to Andy Kahan with Crime Stoppers.

According to investigators, Spencer contacted Showers in May while pretending to be a minor and got him to agree to meet him for sex. Instead, Spencer allegedly shot Showers several times as he was walking near his home. The man's body was found in a ditch.

Kahan believes that someone tipped off police about Spencer's alleged involvement.

"Someone that knew the defendant tipped off investigators, telling them the defendant wanted to rob, and harm type of men who do bad things to little children," Kahan explained. "He knew how to track them via an app on the phone."

A judge set Spencer's bond at $250,000, and he remains in Harris County Jail. He faces life in prison if convicted.

“You’re here for the first degree felony offense of murder,” said the judge to Spencer.

Kahan says he's never seen anything like the case, but he doesn't think that Spencer was justified in killing Showers, even if he was going to reoffend.

"The only time I've seen something like this was in the movies, period," said Kahan. "The first thing that came to my mind was Death Wish Charles Bronson or the Vigilante Killer Bernard Getz."

Here's more about his arrest:

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