This photo provided by the Tulsa Police Department via the Tulsa World shows Alvin Watts. According to police, Watts, 32, and Jacob England, 19, will be charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill, after being arrested early Sunday, April 8, 2012, for their involvement in the recent shootings in Tulsa, Okla., that left three people dead and two others critically wounded. (AP Photo/Tulsa Police Department via Tulsa World) — AP
This photo provided by the Tulsa Police Department via the Tulsa World shows Jacob England. According to police, England, 19, and Alvin Watts, 32, will be charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill, after being arrested early Sunday, April 8, 2012, for their involvement in the recent shootings in Tulsa, Okla., that left three people dead and two others critically wounded. (AP Photo/Tulsa Police Department via Tulsa World) — AP
TULSA, Okla. — Acting on a tip and shadowed by a helicopter, police arrested two men early Sunday in a series of shootings that terrorized Tulsa's black community and left three people dead and two others critically wounded.
Police spokesman Jason Willingham said the two men were arrested at a home just north of Tulsa about 2 a.m. Sunday and were expected to be charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill in the spate of shootings early Friday. He said police made the arrests after receiving an anonymous tip.
While police identified the men as white and all the victims are black, authorities have not described the shootings as racially motivated and declined to discuss that issue Sunday.
However, Willingham confirmed police are looking at a Facebook page in which it appears one of the men, 19-year-old Jake England, expresses anger over his father being shot and killed by a black man. Willingham said police were aware of the page but he could not say for certain it belonged to England.
A Thursday update on the Facebook page noted it has been two years since England's father died and "it's hard not to go off" between that anniversary and the death of his fiancée earlier this year. A friend of the family, Susan Sevenstar, told the Associated Press England's fiancée had killed herself in January. The Facebook page had been taken down Sunday afternoon.
Community leaders have expressed concern about the motivation for the shootings on Tulsa's predominantly black north side. The Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., president of the Tulsa NAACP, said Sunday that word of the arrests had provided a great sense of relief.
"The community once again can go about its business without fear of there being a shooter on the streets on today, on Easter morning," he said.
Police said they linked the shootings because they happened about the same time within a few miles of each other, and all five victims were out walking when they were shot. Four of the victims were found in yards, and one in the street.
Police have said they don't believe the victims knew one another. They identified those killed as Dannaer Fields, 49, Bobby Clark, 54, and William Allen, 31. They declined to name the survivors.
"There obviously still is a lot of investigation" ahead, Willingham said Sunday. "We don't have a motive at this time. We are still asking questions and hopefully that will become clear in coming days."
Milan Cherry, Fields' niece, said her aunt didn't have a car and she believed she was walking home when she was shot. She described Fields as uplifting and a source of strength for their family in hard times.
"When we went through four deaths last year in our family, she still tried to uplift everyone, even though it was her brother and sisters and a nephew who died," Cherry said.
She said she didn't have much detail on the arrests but they were "a good thing."
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.
No comments:
Post a Comment