AUSTIN, Texas — A man has been arrested in connection with two separate Austin murders that both occurred this month.
On Friday, Austin Police Department officials held a press conference to provide an update about the arrest of Abraham Kulor in connection with two murders, one at an apartment complex on Techni Center Drive on Feb. 8 and the other on East Sixth Street on Feb. 19.
APD Homicide Det. Rheannon Cunningham said at approximately 12:08 p.m. on Feb. 8, the department received a call about a man who had been shot and lost control of his car in the 5800 block of Techni Center Drive, at the Fort Branch at Truman's Landing apartment complex.
On-scene civilians made contact with the driver, later identified as Carlos Calleja, who appeared to have been shot. The civilians, as well as responding medical personnel, performed life-saving measures on Calleja, but he was pronounced dead at 12:31 p.m.
Detectives arrived to process the scene and found marijuana inside the victim's vehicle. Snapchat messages on Calleja's phone indicated he was there to sell marijuana to someone with the user name @LilAK. The messages outlined the details of the sale, including the location the two were to meet at.
Cunningham said the messages stopped once Calleja told @LilAK he had arrived – minutes prior to when Calleja crashed his car.
Cunningham said several APD Violent Crimes detectives were familiar with the user name @LilAK and identified him as Abraham Kulor.
During the Friday press conference, Robbery Det. Matt Judd elaborated on Kulor's criminal history. He said from Sept. 20, 2021, until Oct. 2, 2021, a series of five aggravated robberies involving deadly weapons occurred. The robberies – which included two carjacking-style robberies, one home invasion-style robbery and one robbery of a person – were linked together as a series based on similar suspect descriptions and methods.
Judd said three stolen vehicles were located at the Fort Branch apartment complex where the Feb. 8 murder later occurred. As the investigation into the 2021 aggravated robberies unfolded, two suspects were identified: a juvenile male and Kulor.
According to Judd, Kulor was already a known suspect due to previous arrests for aggravated robbery in 2018 and 2019.
After a thorough investigation, Kulor was charged with three counts of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. He was arrested in October 2021 and indicted.
Judd then said this month, the Homicide Unit advised of a murder investigation with a suspect who used the user name @LilAK. Judd said Robbery Unit detectives immediately recognized the user name and, "in an abundance of caution," checked jail records to see if Kulor was still in custody. They learned he had been released in July 2022.
After Judd's recap of Kulor's previous offenses, Det. Jesse Rodriguez began to discuss the Feb. 19 murder. He said at approximatley 8:37 p.m. on Feb. 19, APD received a 911 call for shots fired in the parking lot of the former Texas Lottery Commission building on East Sixth Street.
A man, identified as Kulor, was seen running southbound, away from the shots, toward East Fifth Street. Responding officers located Kulor in the 600 block of East Sixth Street in possession of a shoulder bag containing marijuana. He was found to have an outstanding warrant for aggravated robbery and was arrested.
Rodriguez said a second subject, later identified as Anthony Brown, was located in the parking lot of the former Texas Lottery Commission building with a gunshot wound. Life-saving measures were performed on Brown, but he died at 9:17 p.m.
Over the course of the investigation into Brown's murder, witnesses were interviewed and APD learned that Kulor and Brown had met in the parking lot to conduct a drug sale. During the interaction, Kulor pulled out a gun and shot Brown, according to Rodriguez.
On Feb. 23, Rodriguez obtained an arrest warrant for Kulor in connection with Brown's murder. Kulor is now charged with two separate counts of first-degree murder, in connection with both Brown and Calleja's deaths.
At the Friday press conference, a member of the media noted that when the Feb. 8 murder occurred on Techni Ridge Drive, police called it an isolated incident – but Kulor would go on to commit another murder less than two weeks later. APD Sgt. Peter Kovach responded.
"At the time that we started investigating that, we had very limited information. We knew that it did involve a narcotics transaction and that that was between those two individuals at that time," Kovach said. "And so, that's why it was reported that it was an isolated incident at that time because it wasn't that he was just out randomly committing violent acts against random people on the street."
Kovach said Austin has had 15 homicides so far this year. When asked how that number compares to the first two months of last year, he said, "We're about on track for the same spot we were at last year."