Gang Member Was Out on Bond at Time of North Austin Slaying
By: Honest Austin
Tags: Austin, Criminal Justice Reform

In the aftermath of an October 30 slaying in a North Austin neighborhood, a detective located a vehicle nearby that was linked to the slaying through surveillance footage.

The maroon four-door vehicle didn’t have plates.

Officers believed that the vehicle, found at an apartment complex, had been used by two marijuana dealers implicated in the killing that took place in the nearby Georgian Acres neighborhood, according to witness accounts cited in an arrest affidavit.

The victim in the killing, Jose Francisco Galeano Antunez, had just wrapped up a day on the job and was talking with two friends in a driveway on Carpenter Avenue. That’s when a car pulled up and the driver and passenger offered to sell the Hispanic men marijuana.

Not all of the men spoke English, but Antunez did, so he approached the vehicle and spoke with the men. He declined their offer, saying that they didn’t smoke. The vehicle then drove off.

Moments later, the occupants returned and approached Antunez with a semi-automatic handgun. A witness “observed two Black males physically pushing Antunez,” the affidavit states. “One Black male was thin and the other was heavy set.”

Another witness stated that the male with the thinner build, who has since been identified as a juvenile, “demanded money and fatally shot Antunez.”

Police identified the “heavy set” man as 18-year-old Richard Kenneth Speed III. Police linked him to the maroon car through surveillance footage at the apartment complex where the vehicle was found. The footage showed him wiping the car down using a cloth.

The arrest affidavit states that Speed “is a known documented Criminal Gang Member.”

A district judge issued an arrest warrant for Speed on a capital murder charge November 6, and the Lone Star Fugitive Task force took him into custody in Round Rock the next day. The arrest warrant listed him as having a Manor address, though court records for an earlier arrest showed a Pflugerville address.

Travis County Jail records show that Speed is still in custody. He is also charged with aggravated robbery and attempted aggravated robbery.

The second suspect, a juvenile, has not yet been taken into custody. He is identified as having a “thin build” and being about 6' tall.

The killing took place in the Georgian Acres neighborhood, about a block from Barrington Elementary School. The neighborhood is bounded by US-183, North Lamar, I-35, and Rundberg Lane.

Gang Beating

At the time of the killing, Richard Speed III was out of jail on bond. He was charged with assault causing bodily injury, which is a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.

According to the affidavit for a warrant of arrest, which Honest Austin obtained from the county clerk, Speed was involved in a group beating of a man at a convenience store March 13, 2020.

A detective in the organized crime gang unit wrote that Speed joined a group of four friends in beating a man who was trying to get his son to leave the group. “The victim stated that he was pushed to the ground, they all began to punch, kick, and stomp the victim.”

Video footage from inside the store showed Speed punching the victim in the back of his head and kicking him in the back while he was on the ground.

Austin Police executed a warrant for Speed’s arrest on July 15, at which time he was only 17 years old, according to a county misdemeanor database. Two days later he walked free.

He posted personal bond, which is a type of non-financial sworn agreement that the defendant will return to court as ordered and will comply with certain conditions for release.

As a condition for being released on personal bond, Speed agreed to participate in an eight-hour anger management program. He was also prohibited from possessing firearms.

The case was unresolved as the time of the murder. Speed’s court date for all five criminal charges that he faces is January 7, 2021, according to the county’s criminal docket.