Man is shot in the back 5 times after all-day barbecue at Texas motel, officials say

A man will spend decades in prison following a fatal shooting at a Texas motel in 2022, authorities say.

Ronald Austin, 64, was found guilty of murder in October after the March 13, 2022, shooting death of 57-year-old Gerald Chisolm at Cowboy Motel in Amarillo, according to the 47th District Attorney’s Office.

Now, Austin has been sentenced to 40 years in prison, prosecutors announced in an Oct. 8 news release.

McClatchy News has reached out to Austin’s attorney and is awaiting a response.

The district attorney’s office said Austin and Chisolm were living at the motel and had spent the entire day barbecuing. At one point, they began arguing and went “to their rooms to cool down,” prosecutors said.

Austin was in his room when Chisolm came to the front door, which was open, according to the district attorney. For unknown reasons, Austin retrieved a gun from his desk and shot him, prosecutors said.

As Chisolm began to run away, Austin followed him, shooting him five times in the back, prosecutors said. Chisolm was pronounced dead at the scene.

“The defendant agreed to speak to (Amarillo Police Department) homicide detectives that same day, and basically told them that he had been angry at the victim,” the district attorney’s office said. “Despite admitting that the victim had not threatened him and did not have a weapon, the defendant told APD he decided to shoot him.”

Austin told a different story in court, prosecutors said, saying that Chisolm threatened him and “had been known to carry a weapon.” But investigators did not find Chisolm to be armed, prosecutors said.

The district attorney’s office said Austin was found guilty by a jury “after a short deliberation.”

“While Texans certainly have the right to defend themselves, no one has the right to use violence unnecessarily,” 47th District Attorney Jason Herring said. “When people like this defendant try to play the self defense card, it undermines righteous claims of self defense for those who truly need it. We are grateful for the jury’s quick and decisive verdict which recognized the difference between self defense and murder.”