KCBD Investigates Discounting Danger: Lubbock County teen says she called police about Jamie Lee Pruett weeks before deadly shooting

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - A Lubbock County teenager said she called police about a man weeks before he was arrested in connection to a deadly shooting.

The 17-year-old filed a police report on February 22, 2023, claiming Jamie Lee Pruett, 49, harassed her at work and attempted to follow her home.

On March 13, 2023, law enforcement arrested Pruett for shooting four people. One has since died.

The junior in high school said she recently got her driver’s license and her first job. She has worked at a store in Lubbock County for about two months and noticed Pruett came in almost every day.

“He was always friendly, almost kind of overly friendly,” the teenager said.

She said she didn’t think too much of it until February 22.

“He went in for a really awkwardly tight hug that I didn’t want at all and I kind of tried to back away, but it was so tight that I couldn’t really move,” she said.

She said Pruett also showed her that he found her Facebook, which listed her phone number.

“He said I am going to call you whenever you get off work and I’ll call you tomorrow and then I am going to come in the store and see you, and I just told him I had to get back to work,” she said.

“He told me well maybe we can get you a new job and started asking me if I knew how to dance. He was also asking me if I wanted to go to the movies with him and he thought we would make a really cute couple. I’m sure everybody knows by now that he’s 49 and he has known my age since the beginning,” she said.

The teenager reported this interaction to her store manager and said she blocked Pruett on social media before she headed home.

“As soon as I was pulling out of my parking spot, that man’s truck pulled out behind mine,” she said.

She began to panic.

“I ended up driving off and I got to a stop light and I kind of looked over and it was him, and he rolled down his window and started screaming at me to roll my window down so I immediately ran that red light. I was making as many turns as I could to try to lose him and he was still trying to run me off the road and follow me,” she said.

She said she shared her location with a co-worker and called 911. KCBD obtained the recording of that 911 call.

She immediately tells the dispatcher, “I need help.”

She explained what happened at work earlier that day and then said, “Now he is following me and I don’t know what to do.”

The dispatcher tracked her phone and location as she continued to drive.

Eventually, she tells the dispatcher that she thinks she lost Pruett.

“If you don’t think he’s following you anymore, then you should be good. If you see him again, then give us a callback, okay?” the dispatcher said.

“Okay, I will,” she said.

Still shaken, she called her parents and asked them to meet her at the Lubbock Police Department.

“When I walked in, she walked right up to me and cried so hard like I have not seen her cry since she was a little girl and I could tell that she was absolutely terrified,” her mother said.

Her mother heard the story for the first time as her daughter filed the police report.

“It’s terrifying. It’s really terrifying. Everybody keeps telling me, my friends anyway, keep telling me, ‘Stop thinking about the what-ifs and just be thankful’, and I am. Believe me, I am so thankful she is okay. But as a mom, you can’t help the what-ifs. You know, what if this had happened? What if she didn’t have gas in her car that night?” her mother cried.

We’re told after the incident the teenager’s employer banned Pruett from the store.

Still feeling uneasy, the teenager said she attempted to get a restraining order.

“My stepdad took me up to the advocacy center and they said we can’t do anything for you, we can’t get you a restraining order because you are a minor. I just felt like I was at a loss,” she said.

A few days later she said a detective with the Lubbock Police Department called her and said he was working the case.

“Then we never got any kind of follow-up, anything like this has been taken care of. Obviously, I don’t think it was,” her mother said.

Days later, they heard the news that Pruett had been arrested in a shooting that turned deadly.

“Knowing that man chased her down, tried to run her off the road, but then the fact that he goes on a shooting spree just within a couple of weeks? It’s terrifying. It’s hard to even process,” her mother said. “There should be something that can be done. Not just ‘Oh, just call 911 if he does it again.’ What is that? Call 911 because they did so much the first time?”

The teenager said she feels like she was not taken seriously.

“I was definitely one of the lucky ones in the situation and I just wish police and law enforcement would do more to keep us safe,” she said.

We asked the Lubbock Police Department about the teenager’s report. We will have their response in our follow-up report Thursday at 10 p.m.

We also asked the Lubbock County District Attorney’s office for guidance when it comes to restraining orders and additional resources for those who find themselves in similar situations. We are still waiting to hear back.

On Wednesday, we obtained search warrants executed after the shooting. Law enforcement obtained Pruett’s cell phone and is seeking permission to access his Facebook and Ring cameras that may have captured the crime.

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