KILLEEN, Texas — The Bell County Grand Jury met on March 6 and no charges were returned in the shooting death of Curtis Shelley, the Bell County District Attorney's Office said. A neighbor recorded the incident, and Shelley's relatives accused the Killeen Police Department of covering up a murder because the shooter was related to one of its officers.
The department initially turned the investigation over to Texas Rangers when it discovered the shooter's mother was one of its officers. The shooter voluntarily agreed to an interview with the ranger investigating the case, and he drove to the Killeen Police Department with his mom and wife, the investigation report said.
Although the Texas Rangers concluded its investigation of the shooting on Sept. 17, 2018, the report wasn't available to the public until the grand jury made its ruling last month. Ranger Justin Duck was the lead investigator on the case, and he wrote the report KCEN Channel 6 obtained through a public records request.
Duck said when the case was assigned to him, a Killeen police lieutenant told him Austin Fasulo shot Shelley.
The video from Nov. 12, 2017, showed Shelley and Fasulo arguing in the middle of the street. Then, Fasulo shot Shelley, who was unarmed, and he later died at the hospital.
*WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS GRAPHIC AND NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL VIEWERS*
Duck interviewed Fasulo on Nov. 20, 2017, according to the investigation report.
A Killeen police detective was present as well, the report said. Fasulo told Duck Shelley was "cussing and hollering like he's mad at me," when he was driving about half a block from his home. Fasulo said when he drove away, Shelley ran after the truck.
Fasulo sped up even more, and Shelley threw a pocket knife at the truck, Duck wrote in the report.
"At this point, my dumba** is curious, so I put a little distance between us, and I stop," Fasulo told Duck in the interview. "Right there in the middle of the road, and I get out."
Fasulo then said Shelley threatened him, according to the report.
"This guy's words right out of his mouth, 'Your b**** wife killed my f***ing dog, I'm gonna murder you, I'm gonna kill your family, I'm gonna burn your house down,'" Fasulo told Duck in the interview. "So at this point, this guy starts off right off the bat, threatening my life."
The report said Fasulo then grabbed his shotgun from the back of his truck. Fasulo said he told Shelley to back away and go home. According to Fasulo, Shelley started to walk towards him, while he continued to back up and kept telling Shelley to go home.
Shelley kept saying "I'm gonna kill you, I'm gonna kill your kids, I'm gonna burn your house down," to Fasulo, he told Duck. Fasulo said he lowered his shotgun, then Shelley moved towards him, so he pointed the gun at him again. Fasulo then told Shelley not to take another step.
"I felt threatened at this point," Fasulo said, according to the report. "He says, 'You ain't gonna shoot me b****. I'm a hoover crip, I'll take that shotgun right outta your hand, kill you with it, get in your truck, drive to your house, set it on fire, and kill your family.'"
Fasulo told Shelley to stop and go home, or he was going to shoot him.
According to Fasulo, Shelley replied 'You're not going to shoot me.'
"Comes at me again, hikes his pants up like he's going to attack me, starts walking towards me, and I shot him," Fasulo told Duck.
Fasulo said in the interview he put his shotgun back in his truck and called 911 immediately, so Shelley wouldn't die in front of his fiancé, according to the report. He said based on his Marine Corps training, he knew Shelley would die, but it wasn't his intent to kill him.
Other people Duck interviewed confirmed Fasulo stayed at the scene after he shot Shelley. One man even said he brought out a towel for Shelley's gunshot wound, and Fasulo grabbed it and applied pressure to the wound.
Duck asked Fasulo if he knew Shelley, and he said he never met him in his life. When Duck asked Fasulo how he knew Shelley had a fiancé, he said she came running up after he shot him and said she was Shelley's fiancé. She also told Fasulo she tried to stop Shelley from chasing his truck, according to the report.
Fasulo said he lived about six or seven houses down from Shelley. Duck asked if Fasulo thought Shelley's threats were real.
"If he knows where I live well enough to flag down my truck when I drive down the road, I mean, he obviously knew it was me," he replied. "He knew who my wife was, and at the time I honestly believed he was going to try and take that gun from me and kill me."
When asked if he actually believed Shelley knew where he lived, Fasulo said Shelley pointed in the direction of his house in the video, while threatening to burn his house down and kill his family.
Duck asked Fasulo if he knew Shelley from the dog bite incident involving his wife. Fasulo said he had no idea it was his dog and he didn't know it died. He also said no one ever identified themselves to he or his wife as the dog owner.
Fasulo was asked if he ever considered getting in his truck and leaving.
"I did sir, but as close as he was, I wouldn't have had time if he changed his mind and decided to come after me," he replied. "There's no way I'd have been able... If I'd have been sitting in my truck, he would have got me."
He also said he knew Shelley threw a knife at him, but he didn't know if Shelley had another weapon on him.
Duck again asked Fasulo why he stopped in the first place. Fasulo said he was simply curious.
"I wanted to know why this guy was so mad at me, chasing my truck down and throwing s*** at it," he said. "That's not something that happens every day. A normal person would have just went around the corner and called the cops, but I'm not that guy. I never have been."
When asked what his original intentions were, Fasulo said he just wanted to figure out what was going on. Duck told Fasulo that at one point in the video, Fasulo was near the door of his truck and there was nothing between him and it. He then asked Fasulo why he didn't get in the truck and leave.
Fasulo said even though he was close, he didn't feel he could have gotten his shotgun in the truck without Shelley getting to him before he could get away safely.
Duck finally asked Fasulo why he didn't just fistfight Shelley.
He said he thought about it.
"But what if he kills me, what if he manages to get my gun," he said. "I wasn't willing to take that risk sir. This man told me he was going to kill me and when he was done with me he was going to my house and kill my family."
According to the report, the interview took 25 minutes.
Duck interviewed several of Shelley's relatives, who said KPD gave Fasulo "special treatment" because of his connection to the department.
One relative told Duck she believed KPD was covering something up, because it knew about the video of the shooting through 911 calls, but the department "failed to go pick it up immediately."
Duck reported she said Fasulo was crazy and willing to go kill someone, but she was saying what other people had told her about him. She could not provide any direct links to anything or anyone who supported her accusations of his mental state or his intentions to kill Shelley, the report said.
Another relative said he was the type of person who would "run his mouth" and act like a gangster, but didn't deserve to die. She also said he was wrong in trying to confront Fasulo.
Shelley's brother, Justin Shelley, said he's disappointed in how the case played out.
"It disappoints me how our justice system is, in the way they handled this," he said.
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