Austin PD Arrests Man Linked To North Lamar Homicide

Austin TX

06 May, 2021

12:30 PM

Description

AUSTIN, TX — Austin police have arrested a second suspect linked to the April shooting death of Kedarius Griffin in North Austin. Cornelius Tyrone Jr Cooks, 22, was arrested Tuesday by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in connection to the April 14th homicide at 9414 N. Lamar Boulevard, authorities said Wednesday. Cook was arrested without incident in the 2900 block of West Anderson Lane. He faces a first-degree felony murder charge with a $300,000 bond. As of Thursday, Cooks was still booked in Travis County Jail. Warren Mitchell, 21, who was the first suspect police identified in the shooting, was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma on April 23 by the U.S. Marshals Northern Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force. Mitchell faces a first-degree felony murder charge. His bond is set at $500,000. Cornelius Tyrone Jr Cooks, 22, was arrested Tuesday by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force in connection to the April 14th homicide at 9414 N. Lamar Boulevard. He faces a first-degree felony murder charge with a bond set at $300,000. He is currently booked in Travis County Jail. (Courtesy of the Austin Police Department)Officers were called to the 9400 block of N. Lamar Boulevard around 7:24 p.m. on April 14 for a shots fired call near the McDonalds and H-E-B in the area. When officers arrived, they found a gray colored sedan that looked like it crashed into other vehicles that were parked and unattended in the parking lot. Officials also found Griffin, a Black man, lying on the ground near the gray sedan driver's door, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. Austin-Travis County EMS arrived on scene and attempted life-saving measures; however, Griffin was later pronounced dead at 7:36 p.m. by Interim Austin Public Health Director Dr. Mark Escott. The Travis County Medical Examiner's office conducted an autopsy and determined Griffin's official cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, leading authorities to believe the shooting death was a homicide. Officials learned from witnesses, along with other evidence at the scene, three men were involved in some type of disturbance with Griffin. Several shots were fired and the three men left the scene in a red sedan. Homicide investigators were called to the scene along with crime scene technicians to investigate. Authorities said three teenage girls were in Griffin's car along with a 2-year-old toddler. None were injured during the shooting. A clear motive for the incident has yet to be determined and is still under investigation.