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COLORADO SPRINGS — A man convicted of assisting in the murder of two teenage boys is asking his city for forgiveness and for a spot on their city council.
Gary Flakes, 32, was arrested in 1997 after he and another man, Jeron Grant, shot and killed two teenage boys.
The boys were walking back from a friend's home when Flakes and Grant drove up behind them and fired off a 12-gauge shot gun, murdering the two teens.
To this day, neither man has admitted to who pulled the trigger.
A judge never convicted the men of actually pulling the trigger, which frustrated the city of Colorado Springs in the late 90s.
After 12 years, Flakes was released from prison and has spent the last couple of years giving back to his community and helping troubled teens.
After 12 years, Flakes was released from prison and has spent the last couple of years giving back to his community and helping troubled teens.
On Wednesday, he decided to announce his candidacy for City Council.
"I'm running for city council because I understand the needs. As a young person my actions devastated the community and brought grief to two families," Flakes said.
The two families Flakes is talking about are the families of Scott Hawrysiak and Andy Westbay. They're the teens who were murdered.
"This is very difficult for me to have to go through," Michele Hawrysiak, Scott's sister, said. "I thought it was upsetting. It's like a slap to the face for my family and Andy Westbay's family."
Gary Flakes didn't want to talk about his past too much. His supporters didn't want to talk about it either.
Perhaps the most upsetting thing for the victims' families is not having Flakes or Grant admit to who pulled the trigger.
With whatever information investigators were able to collect, they pointed at Grant; yet even they were unsure.
When asked at the news conference on Wednesday what sort of experience he had to run for offices, Flakes couldn't provide any examples.
(KUSA-TV © 2013 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
