AUSTIN (KXAN) — “This street right here that they say is a bad place to me, looks like a good place to me. It looks beautiful,” Milton Washington said.
He’s talking about Burton Drive, a street often referred to as “Murder Drive.”
But Washington – and others – want a recent clothing drive, and the hopeful snowball effect that stems from it, to shift this narrative.
The street’s past
Last year, five people were killed on Burton Drive. Three of those deaths happened in one week.
- In October, police believe Sherles Machado-Herndandez killed his common-law wife, who is the mother of his children, in the parking lot of an apartment complex
- Two days later, about a block away, APD found the body of 20-year-old Keshawn Cage near the intersection of Burton Drive and Oltorf Street.
- On July 18, someone called 911 to tell police someone tried to kill his friend. When crews got there, they found Jose Ramon Lizarraga Boca Negra inside a home with apparent gunshot wounds.
- On July 24, police believe Alex Trevino, 34, stabbed a man in his 20s to death. The victim was Javier Antonio Navarro Quesada.
Burton Drive is less than one mile long, bookended by Oltorf Street and East Riverside Drive. It’s primarily full of apartment complexes.
In 2023, when the Texas Department of Public Safety increased its patrols in Austin, DPS placed an initial focus on placing extra troopers in this area.
New crime statistics
After October’s homicides on Burton Drive, violence intervention group ATX Peace started doing targeted outreach work on Burton and the surrounding areas.
The group is part of a new wave of outreach initiatives, which mobilizes people with their own criminal records to find a way to connect with violence ridden communities.
According to the APD Crime Map, aggravated assault and Part II Crimes – which include drug offenses and simple assaults – have dropped every month since October when ATX Peace stepped in.
There have also been no homicides since October.
Burglary and theft cases remain steady.
‘It’s amazing’ residents – some with criminal records – want to change the course
Last month, ATX Peace helped Washington and his crew organize a clothing drive.
“The ones that are doing this are the ones that are on the block every day,” said Jeremias Cooper with ATX Peace. “They might be living in a way that’s not agreeable to certain people, but what they’re doing is trying to step out of that space and become something different.”
Cooper said Burton Drive residents approached ATX Peace with the idea, and ATX Peace gave them the resources to make it happen.
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Clothing drive on Burton Drive. -
Dozens showed up to the February drive. -
Washington and others got the chance to engage with their community on a positive level. -
The drive provided shoes, clothes, blankets and more. -
Jeremias Cooper and Michael Salazar with ATX Peace focus specifically on outreach efforts on Burton Drive.
‘It’s just regular people doing regular things’
We set up a chair at the clothing drive and offered community members the chance to answer the following questions:
- What do you want people to think of when they think of Burton Drive?
- How would you describe this community?
The most common word in the responses: family.
“It’s not all dangerous, it’s not all druggy and crime-y, it’s just regular people doing regular things,” one woman said.
ATX Peace is funded by the City’s general fund through the Office of Violence Prevention (OVP). The group gets $1.3 million annually, according to the OVP.
