Dec. 03--A 25-year-old man was ordered held on $750,000 bail in connection with the killing of a man who was gunned down after defending his girlfriend who was grabbed at an Austin neighborhood birthday party, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Antoine Thorne appeared before Judge Laura Sullivan at the Leighton Criminal Courts building, charged in the killing of Alston McNeal, 33.
According to prosecutors, McNeal was at a party on the 1100 block of North Lawler Avenue with Antoine Thorne and a brother of Thorne's at 3:20 a.m. on Oct. 10.
At one point during the party, after Thorne grabbed McNeal's girlfriend's "butt," the two men got into an argument, according to prosecutors.
After the argument, McNeal, of the 900 block of South Independence Boulevard, walked away from Thorne. Afterward, Thorne was approached by his brother, who prosecutors called a "still at-large co-offender" who asked him what the argument was about.
After talking with his brother, Thorne walked up to McNeal, who was near the front door of the apartment, and pulled out a handgun. McNeal and Thorne began wrestling as McNeal tried to take the gun out of Thorne's hands. As they struggled, the gun discharged, but did not strike anyone, prosecutors said.
As McNeal and another person tried to disarm Thorne, his brother walked up to the men, pulled out another handgun and fired a single shot, hitting McNeal in the head, causing a through and through injury, prosecutors said.
McNeal died at the scene from the gunshot wound. Thorne and his brother then fled the scene.
Thorne, of the 1400 block of North Linder Avenue, and his brother were identified by several people at the party who witnessed the shooting.
