Brandon Burris
Lake Highlands High School graduate James “Brandon” Burris was killed Sunday night when his car was struck by a suspected street racer in east Dallas. Burris, 33, was driving on Buckner Boulevard at Dixie Lane just before 7 p.m. when his Toyota Camry was struck by a red Camaro. Burris was pronounced dead at the scene, and his girlfriend, Angelica Figueroa, was treated for serious bodily injuries.
Anthony Gakuo, 23 and driving the Camaro, was charged with racing on the highway causing serious bodily injury, a felony.
Witnesses reported seeing the red Camaro racing another Camaro just before the accident, weaving around traffic at 75 mph. The race, which apparently began at I-30 and proceeded northbound, endangering multiple bystanders for more than 3 miles, ended when Gakuo smashed into Burris’ vehicle. The driver of the second Camaro has not yet been found.
Burris, an architect, graduated from Texas Tech in 2004 and earned a graduate degree from UTA. He was preceded in death by his mother, Vanessa, and survived by his father, Jim, brother, Clayton, and sister-in-law, Lindsay. Services will be held April 4 at 2:30 p.m. at Restland.
Friends and family have started a petition to install a traffic light at the intersection.
Brandon, Jim and Clayton Burris, Angelica Figueroa and Lindsay Burris
