A Black Fort Worth, Texas man was gunned down just outside of his front door late last month, and the victim’s girlfriend said the alleged killer, a white neighbor, was a racist who was always harassing them.
On Sunday, Sept. 27, Fort Worth Police responded to Ashley Lacy’s call while her boyfriend, Antonio Robinson, 39, lay dying outside their home of at least five gunshot wounds to his chest, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Lacy said her 9-year-old son was putting pressure on the wounds to try to save Robinson while she called police after Edward Murray, 54, opened fire on him when he answered the door to Murray’s banging knocks.
“A 9-year-old shouldn’t have to be doing that,” Lacy told the Star-Telegram. Despite their efforts, Robinson was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8:16 p.m. Sunday, the medical examiner’s report states.
The shooting happened around 7:30 p.m. that day, according to the arrest warrant filed by Detective K.M. Bickley. It was the culminating act of a racist campaign by Murray, who had been harassing them since he moved into the community over a year earlier, according to Lacy.
“We had issues with him from day one,” Lacy said. “It was always these little things such as yelling at us. He wouldn’t step in our house, but if our door was open, he would scream at us.”
Lacy also told police Murray would kick their kids’ toys on the sidewalk. Murray’s constant barrage of racial slurs and harassment got to be so much that Lacy said her family just started keeping the door closed.
Robinson was described by his sister-in-law, Monique Robinson, as “such a calm man … who kept the peace” and “went to work to support his family.”
Robinson even stopped Murray from being beaten up once, despite his constant harassment of them, Lacy said.
“He got them to stop beating on him,” Lacy told the Star-Telegram through tears. “And now Eddie turns around and does this. Antonio had done nothing to him.”
Lacy, Robinson and Murray all resided on the 3800 block of Waldorf Street in southeast Fort Worth. Lacy had two other children, 3 and 2, the youngest of whom was Robinson’s.
Murray fled the scene after the slaying but was arrested Monday, Sept. 28. He has been charged with murder, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon.
He is being held at Tarrant County Jail on 160,000 bond, which surprised Robinson’s family, given Murray is a felon who was convicted of aggravated sexual assault on a 9-year-old girl. They said the opposite would be true if the roles were reversed.
“If the tables were turned and a Black man with the same record had committed this crime against a white man and fled the scene, he would undoubtedly be completely denied bail,” Monique Robinson told the Star-Telegram. “This is a travesty of justice.”
Among the latest Black victims of “racist terrorism,” Lacy said she and Robinson planned to move with their children, but the COVID-19 pandemic prevented them from doing so.
“He didn’t deserve this. We tried moving away but COVID stopped all that. Now it’s too late,” Lacy said.
