1. Palestine PD identifies man killed in officer-involved shooting
2. Officers no-billed in fatal Palestine shooting

PALESTINE (KYTX) – 47-year-old James D. Bushey was shot and killed by police shortly after midnight Monday morning. The officers involved said they were scared for their lives after Bushey pulled a gun on them.

In the aftermath, it turned out the gun was just a BB gun–relatively harmless, yet so realistic it cost Bushey his life.

The incident sparked three investigations. The Anderson County District Attorney’s Office and the Texas Rangers are analyzing Bushey’s death while Palestine Police pursue their own internal investigation. Two un-named officers will remain on paid leave for the duration of the inquiries.

“He’s a good brother,” Bushey’s brother Jeff said. “He’s going to be missed.”

Bushey’s family spent the day Monday trying to understand how the 47-year-old ended up dead.

“He was kind-hearted,” Jeff said, “he was fun-loving, he was a practical joker, he was always messing with somebody.”

Jeff said James had just moved to East Texas from New Hampshire. He was leaving problems behind and hoping to turn his life around for good.

“To have a sheriff show up at 3:30 in the morning beating on the door, your heart drops to your boot because you know it ain’t good,” Jeff said.

That deputy had been dispatched from the dark and chaotic scene where Bushey was shot by two Palestine police officers. They said he got caught stealing beer from the Walmart on Palestine’s south loop, knew officers were on their way, ran to a nearby Applebee’s and hid in the bathroom.

That’s where the officers found him and dragged him out.

“[Bushey] pulled the weapon out, he turned, one of the officers shouted ‘Gun! Gun!’ and shots were fired,” Police Chief Mike Alexander said in an early morning interview Monday.

Alexander said it was only after Bushey was gunned down that officers realized his gun was filled with BBs, but built to look like the real thing.

“In a situation like this, no one ever wins,” Alexander said later on Monday, adding that he stood behind his officers. “It’s never a good idea to brandish any kind of weapon.”

Back in Elkhart, Bushey’s brother wasn’t sure what to believe.

“[Whether] he made a bad decision or they made a bad decision, whatever it was, I just want the truth to come out and wherever it falls it falls,” Jeff said.

Jeff said he’s not blaming the police. Instead he’s focused on making sure his brother gets remembered for who he was.

“He’s not a bad person,” Jeff said. “He may have made a bad decision, but he’s not a bad person.”