Austin man sentenced to 26 years in prison for 2020 fatal Waffle House robbery
An Austin man will serve a 26-year prison sentence after pleading guilty last week to murder and assault on a public servant in a deadly 2020 robbery.
Kelvin Jaquan Robinson, 23, was convicted in the murder of Mario Robinson, who was 23 at the time of his death. The two were not related. Texas inmate records do not indicate where Kelvin Robinson will serve his sentence.
According to an arrest affidavit, Kelvin Robinson was in a gray Honda Pilot SUV with his friend Jalen Highsmith and two women in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, 2020, when they encountered Mario Robinson and his friends at a Waffle House. The two women, whom the affidavit did not name, were in the front seats of the car, while Kelvin Robinson and Highsmith were in the back.
The group drove to the Waffle House at 8800 E. U.S. 290 in Northeast Austin and approached a white Chevrolet Impala and a blue Honda sedan in the parking lot. The affidavit says Amir Bradshaw, a friend of Mario Robinson's, told police that he and his friends had entered the restaurant to order food and were waiting for their meals inside their cars. Mario Robinson was sitting in the back seat of the Impala.
Video surveillance showed that Kelvin Robinson emerged from the backseat of the Honda Pilot with an assault rifle, according to the affidavit, and pointed it at the Impala in an attempt to rob personal property from Bradshaw and Mario Robinson.
Bradshaw told police he believed that Mario Robinson gave Kelvin Robinson money and that Highsmith, armed with a handgun, emerged from the Honda Pilot and removed a chain from Bradshaw's neck. After stealing the cash and the chain, Kelvin Robinson fatally shot Mario Robinson with the rifle.
The driver of the Impala drove away from the Waffle House to the 9100 block of Happy Trail, a residential neighborhood about 1.5 miles from the restaurant. Bradshaw called for emergency assistance at 4:38 a.m. It was not clear in the affidavit whether any other occupants suffered gunshot wounds.
Authorities located the Impala and an injured Mario Robinson in the neighborhood, and despite medical treatment, he was pronounced dead at 4:47 a.m. by Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.
Kelvin Robinson and Highsmith fled the state in a rental car after the fatal robbery and were found by the U.S. Marshals Service in Memphis, Tenn., four days later. The two women in the front seat of the Honda Pilot provided witness testimony and helped identify the two men, leading to their arrests.
While in custody, Kelvin Robinson assaulted an employee, for which he received an additional four years in prison.
Highsmith pleaded guilty to capital murder and will be sentenced Feb. 13, Travis County records show. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Travis County Jail, according to inmate records.
In a statement, Travis County District Attorney José Garza said he hoped Kelvin Robinson's prosecution would bring closure and peace to Mario Robinson's family.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Gunman in Northeast Austin Waffle House robbery sentenced to prison
