AUSTIN, Texas — An East Austin woman was found guilty of murder on Tuesday night in the case of a man shot and killed over a dispute involving a bouncy house.
Nora Lee Lopez, 33, was convicted of killing 52-year-old James Traylor on Nov. 1, 2021, in the 8400 block of Garcreek Circle, near Loyola and Decker lanes.
On the day of the shooting, police officers responded after reports of multiple gunshots around 8:10 a.m. Arriving at the scene, officers found Traylor with gunshot wounds in a weeded area. He was taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 9:11 a.m.
Witnesses told police that an altercation broke out between Traylor and Lopez after she accused him of stealing a bouncy house from her property. According to KVUE’s media partners at the Austin American-Statesman, Lopez thought Traylor had stolen a Spider-Man bouncy house she rented for her children and neighbor’s children to use on Halloween.
Traylor denied stealing the bouncy house, insisting it would take two people, but Lopez claimed she saw him on her security camera video. In fact, the bouncy house had been picked up overnight by the same people who delivered it, prosecutor Rick Jones told the Statesman.
The report said Lopez called 911 just after 8 a.m. to report the bouncy house stolen. She was told to call 311 since it was not a life-threatening situation. Lopez reportedly told the operator, “You know what … if something happens, don’t come back to my house.”
The altercation ended with Lopez shooting Traylor multiple times and then running away. Traylor was hit once in the head and twice in the back, the Statesman reported.
According to public records, sentencing for Lopez began Wednesday morning and will continue on Thursday.