Murder victim Akira Ross
Akira Ross, 24, was shot to death on Friday night, June 2, at a Circle K gas station in Cedar Park, a suburb on the northwest side of Austin, by a man she didn’t know. Now the victim’s family and friends are working to get the Cedar Park Police Department to label her murder as a hate crime.
Organizers with Cedar Park Pride are asking supporters to attend the Cedar Park City Council meeting happening Thursday, June 22, to urge the council to “pressure Cedar Park police to label this incident as a hate crime.”
Those who can attend are asked to “use this link to let us know you are attending.” Those who plan to attend as well as those who cannot are asked to email the Cedar Park mayor and city council asking them to encourage police to classify Ross’ murder as a hate crime using this link.
Cedar Park Pride organizers also offered “these talking points to help craft a statement to the Cedar Park City Council.”
According to reports, Ross, her girlfriend Tanya Gasaway and another friend pulled into the Circle K parking lot just before 10 p.m. that night. Ross and Gasaway — who had been in an “on-again, off-again relationship” for about nine years, according to KVUE-ABC television station — were arguing as they pulled in and as Gasaway got out of the car to go inside. It was that argument, their friend believes, that caught the attention of a man in the parking lot.
Murder suspect Bradley Stanford
According to LawAndCrime.com, quoting from a probable cause affidavit, surveillance camera footage from the Circle K in the 120000 block of Ranch Road 620 North in Cedar Park shows a newer model Chevrolet Malibu, allegedly driven by 23-year-old Bradley Jacob Stanford, pulling into the gas station parking lot
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