Fort Worth man charged in fatal shooting of acquaintance

A 25-year-old man was charged Wednesday with murder, accused of shooting an acquaintance in the back last week as the man tried to get away.

John Cecil Lucas Jr is accused of shooting Michael Burks, 35, about 7:50 a.m. Oct. 29 in the common area of an apartment complex in the 900 block of Isbell Road as Burks tried to flee.

Police responding to a report of unconscious person found Burks with a gunshot wound to the back in the 4500 block of Ester Drive, a cross street of Isbell.

Burks was taken to John Peter Smith Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 8:40 a.m. that same morning.

Witnesses interviewed by investigators identified Lucas as the shooter, said homicide Sgt. Joe Loughman.

Loughman said Lucas knew the victim from the neighborhood and through the family of Burks’s girlfriend. He said what prompted the shooting remains unclear.

Lucas was arrested that same day after police received information he was at a residence in the 4500 block of Ebbtide Court, Loughman said.

A resident at the Ebbtide home, 37-year-old Calvin Kuykendall, was charged Wednesday for hindering apprehension of a known felon in connection with the case.

Investigators allege Kuykendall tried to hide Lucas from police and attempted to retrieve the suspected murder weapon from an apartment where Lucas had allegedly left it.

Lucas remained in the Mansfield jail Wednesday morning with bail set at $250,000 in the case.

Burks’s slaying was the first of two homicides in Fort Worth on Oct. 29.

That night, Lewis Blaylock, 30, of Fort Worth, was fatally shot after a verbal altercation turned physical outside the J.A. Cavile Place apartments about 9:30 p.m.

Blaylock was pronounced dead at the scene from gunshot wounds to the back.

Loughman said while there were reportedly dozens of people outside the complex when the shooting took place, “none of the witnesses are willing to speak with the police.”

Anyone with information on Blaylock’s slaying is asked to call Detective M. Green at 817-392-4330.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 12:54 PM with the headline "Fort Worth man charged in fatal shooting of acquaintance."