Renton man convicted of 2021 murder in Kent parking lot

Renton man convicted of 2021 murder in Kent parking lot

Receives 30 years in prison for shooting Avery Wilcox Jr.

King County Superior Court sentenced a Renton man on May 31 on charges related to a 2021 Kent homicide.

Judge Nicole Gaines-Phelps sentenced Anthony Dexter Ford, 38, to 30 years and four months in custody for charges related to the May 21, 2021, murder of Avery Wilcox Jr., 27, of Tukwila, W.C. Kent.

Ford accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty March 27 to two counts of first-degree murder and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and one misdemeanor count of fourth-degree assault . Prosecutors dropped the first-degree assault charge and additional gun-related penalties against Ford.

Gaines-Phelps sentenced Ford to 30 years and four months in prison for the first-degree murder, 29 months for the second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm and 364 days for the fourth-degree assault, with the sentences for all three counts are to run concurrently. Ford will serve a further three years in community custody following his confinement.

According to court documents, Ford shot Wilcox as Wilcox and his family waited in a parking lot in the 10400 block of Southeast Kent Kangley Road for Kent police. Wilcox and his family asked Kent Police to provide a “civilian backup” officer to help Wilcox move his belongings out of a flat shared with his ex-girlfriend following a break-up.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Ford was the cousin of Wilcox's ex-girlfriend, and “[they had] I have been on bad terms for several years.

According to the affidavit, Ford's vehicle pulled up next to Wilcox's vehicle in the parking lot before the sound of several gunshots.

A bullet passed through the driver and passenger side windows of Wilcox's vehicle, shattering the window of Wilcox's mother's vehicle, parked parallel to his.

Wilcox's stepfather, sitting next to Wilcox's mother, jumped out of the vehicle and pulled out a legally possessed handgun, shooting at Ford's vehicle as it sped out of the parking lot.

Wilcox's family called 911 and found Wilcox lying in the front passenger seat of his vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head. Responding officers removed Wilcox from the vehicle and provided him with aid before medics arrived.

Medics rushed Wilcox to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where staff pronounced him dead.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office found Wilcox died from a gunshot wound to the right side of the head.

Ford remained at large for a month after Wilcox's death.

According to court documents, Ford modified the vehicle he was driving during the shooting and disposed of the vehicle after the shooting.

Law enforcement arrested Ford on a warrant on June 23, 2021.

Wilcox's family and friends as well as Ford's family attended Ford's sentencing hearing on May 31.

“I, Anthony Ford,…with the premeditated intent to cause the death of another person, caused the death of Avery Wilcox Jr.…when I shot him as he sat in his vehicle Ford said in his guilty plea.

Wilcox worked as a barber at Nine Thousand Hair Studio in Tukwila, according to Facebook posts by Wilcox and his friends. Wilcox called himself Mr. Barber on his Facebook page. Wilcox played football at Foster High School in Tukwila and graduated in 2012, according to maxpreps.com.