A Travis County jury handed down a 23-year prison sentence to Cornelius Cooks after he was found guilty of one count of murder and five counts of aggravated assault in the April 2021 shooting death of an 18-year-old.
Cooks, 23, shot and killed Kedarius Griffin in a McDonald’s parking lot in North Austin. Griffin was driving a car with his pregnant girlfriend, 2-year-old daughter, teenage sister and two teenage cousins inside. Griffin died on the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.
During the January trial, prosecutors said that the altercation began in the McDonald’s drive-thru lane. Cooks accompanied Warren Mitchell, then 21, while he confronted Griffin over money owed for marijuana. Prosecutors said Mitchell punched Griffin through the open window of his car.
Griffin then drove around the McDonald’s, while Cooks and Mitchell ran around the other side of the restaurant. The parties crossed paths again in the parking lot. Cooks then fired at Griffin’s car from behind, striking only Griffin.