AUSTIN, Texas — In 2019, a man was shot dead in a crowded Givens District Park. Austin police are still looking into the case – and the victim's family is desperate to find the person responsible for their loved one's death.
"Growing up as a kid, my father wasn't there. 'Big Dre,' Andre, he took that place for me. He was like a father figure, you know? He was everything to me. And I'm not going to rest until I have justice for my brother," said Arbor Davis, Andre Davis' sister.
It's been four years since 47-year-old Andre Lanier Davis Jr., affectionately known as "Big Dre," was fatally shot in East Austin. Police are no closer to finding the shooter, and Arbor Davis is nowhere near finding closure.
It was the night of April 9, 2019, at around 10:45 p.m. Big Dre was playing dominoes with friends in Givens Park on East 12th Street.
"And that's something that he did all the time. Everyone knew that he played dominoes there, but also knew he carried a lot of cash on him," APD Det. Travis Beathard said.
Beathard said while Davis was playing, a black car pulled up.
"Two subjects get out of the car. They go to another domino table first, and they rob that table at gunpoint. And then they make their way down to the table where Big Dre was at, and they rob him and the people that he was playing with," Beathard said. "He complied with their demands, gave him the money and then he got up and started running away."
But as Davis ran off, the gunman shot and killed him in the parking lot.
"He was, you know, by all accounts, a pretty kind person. He would help people out. So people knew that he carried lots of cash on him. And I think that's what made him a victim. Because they knew he was easy to get money from, and nothing was really going to happen," Beathard said.
"He was such a big, gentle giant. He would help the elderly. He would help the young. If he saw children or kids that needed tennis shoes, he would help them get tennis shoes, if they needed clothes," Arbor Davis said. "There were a lot of people that he checked up on [on] a daily basis."
Beathard said everybody at Givens Park claimed they ducked for cover. But he knows someone saw something, and they're just scared to talk.
"It's very frustrating. I mean, there were dozens of people in the park. Givens is always crowded with people," he said.
"A lot of people won't come forward for whatever reason – street code, scared, whatever. I would just plead to them, please come forward. If it was Big Dre and this happened to you, Dre would come forward with that information because he didn't want to see nobody hurt," Arbor Davis said. "I believe somebody is going to come forward with the truth. I mean, they talk about it on the streets every day. They know who shot him."
Police are looking for two male suspects. They describe the first as 6 feet, 3 inches tall and between 230 and 260 pounds. Officers believe he was wearing a mask and driving the black car.
The second suspect is described as shorter, and police say he was not wearing a mask.
Detectives say in order to crack this case, it's going to take an eyewitness on the scene with firsthand knowledge of the shooting or who's heard directly from the suspects. Police are looking for tangible evidence like a video or text messages to prove they were there.
Anyone with information on the suspects should contact Capital Area Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477 (TIPS). A reward of up to $1,000 may be available for any information that leads to an arrest, and Big Dre's family says they are also putting in an additional $10,000 for information that leads to an arrest.
KVUE Daybreak's Yvonne Nava is shining a spotlight on several Central Texas cold cases as part of a monthly series called KVUE Crime Files.