KCBD Investigates Discounting Danger: Security camera footage captures Jamie Lee Pruett days before deadly shooting

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock mother of two said she filed a handful of police reports in the days leading up to a deadly shooting.

The woman, who asked us not to identify her, said she recently dated Pruett.

“I beat myself up every day that I let him back in, as far as in our lives. Once he was already in, it was like I was stuck,” she said. “When the police officer came inside with me, I just lost it,” she said. “I said, ‘I am terrified of him.’”

She told the officers that Pruett called her names in front of her son and threatened to take her children away, so she slapped him.

“When I think about my kiddos and what they had to listen to and go through and I had to search for my phone that he had thrown somewhere. All I was trying to do was get to the phone so I could call their dad and let him know they needed to be picked up because, unfortunately, I didn’t know what was about to happen, but I felt super stuck,” she said.

Pruett told officers she punched him in the face and was “knocked out for a second.” He said he hadn’t called the police because he believed she hid his phone.

The officer noted he had to bring Pruett back on topic multiple times because he continued to bring up his, “wealth and property.”

Pruett agreed to leave the woman’s house, but told an officer he thought she might damage his Ferrari while he was away.

The officer documented that Pruett continued to antagonize his girlfriend as he left.

Two days later, on March 7, police received another phone call about Pruett, who ran a vehicle repair shop.

Codie Payne told officers Pruett refused to return his vehicles.

“He threatened to kill me if I ever come trying to rush him or tell him how to do his job again,” Payne said.

Payne said Pruett agreed to return his vehicles, so the officers left, but the problems did not.

“The tires on my truck are stabbed, the keys for the motorcycles, he broke them all off, snapped the handlebars on one of the bikes. He told me, ‘Get a lawyer, you f***ed up calling the cops,’” Payne said.

The next day, on March 8, Payne’s former girlfriend made another phone call to the police.

She said Pruett never moved back in, but she reported to police that he forged her signature on a title and sold one of her vehicles without her permission.

She also learned the Ferrari parked in her garage did not actually belong to Pruett. She worked with police to have the Ferrari towed off of her property and given back to its owner.

She said she feared what would happen if Pruett learned she called the police.

“I put trash bags over my windows, I put trash bags over the garage door. I mean, I felt like I was barricading myself in the house,” she said.

Three days later, on March 11, Pruett returned to her home.

Security camera footage shows him walking around her property. He reportedly stole her cameras before he left.

She said she contacted the Lubbock Police Department.

“They said, ‘you could file it if you wanted to.’ And I said, ‘Why would I not file it? That is my safety.’ That is the only thing I had at that point. I was grasping at straws, and they said, ‘well, it’s really just one step above a traffic violation.’ I didn’t even know what to say after that,” she stated.

Later that day, Pruett made a Facebook Live video. His former girlfriend watched and said he admitted to taking her property and made comments about her family.

“Just threat after threat after threat,” she stated.

She said she asked a responding officer to watch the video.

“He said, ‘I don’t have 40 minutes to sit here and look at this video.’ I said, ‘I know you don’t, but if you could just look at tidbits of it.’

She said the officer did not watch the video, but wrote in the police report she would be able to make it available to detectives.

In that Facebook Live, Pruett said, “I’m fixing to show you on live TV what happens when you brace old P’ Pruett. I’m fixing to make the headlines right now.”

Payne said he, too, watched the video.

“He goes on there and posts, ‘You want to mess with Jamie Lee Pruett? I’m about to make the headlines.’ And he goes out, and makes the headlines,” Payne said.

Two days later, on March 13, Payne was shot in the arm. He said Pruett pulled the trigger.

The Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office stated Pruett shot three people before he shot Payne. One person has since died from their injuries.

A close friend of the woman who dated Pruett said the last couple of months have been really hard for everyone involved.

“Everybody feels so guilty. Could we have done more? Lots of people tried, and lots of people were ignored and that’s just really hard,” she said.

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