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Updated 6:41 p.m. ET: A city-federal task force has been set up to find the attacker or attackers who shot three people dead and wounded two in a string of early-morning attacks in north Tulsa, police in Oklahoma said Saturday.
Three men and one woman were shot within a mile of each other in north Tulsa at around 1 a.m. on Friday morning, police said. The body of a fifth victim, a man, was discovered outside a nearby funeral home in the predominantly black part of the city after 8 a.m. on Friday. Police said he was likely shot at about the same time as the others.
All the victims were black, prompting the Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., NAACP Tulsa president, to say that someone appeared to be "targeting black people to shoot.”
"I’m on edge for my people," Blakney said, according to the Tulsa World.
At a Saturday afternoon press conference, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan said it was too early to know whether the shootings were racially motivated.
"The whole race issue, the hate crime issue, there's a very logical theory that would say that's what it could be, but I'm a police officer, I've got to go by the evidence," Jordan said, adding that no racial slurs had been used by the gunman, Reuters reported.
Jordan had a message for the shooter: "We're coming after you."
Officer Jason Willingham said police were searching for a white man driving a white pickup, which was spotted in the area of three of the shootings. At least two dozen officers are investigating the case, along with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service, Willingham said.
"We don't have one definitive way where this investigation is headed," Willingham said. "Right now, that's the only thing we have to go on."
The local chapter of the NAACP and other black leaders held an emergency meeting Friday evening at a church to appeal for calm and discuss safety.
When asked if people in the community felt that the shooter was targeting black people, Tulsa City Councilor Jack Henderson replied, "Yes, absolutely," krmg.com reported.
Henderson said people should not let "some crazy, deranged person mess up their weekend," but he added that the community "needs to watch their backs" until the shooter is caught, according to the Tulsa World.
"We have to handle this because there are a number of African-American males who are not going to allow this to happen in their neighborhood," said Blakney, according to The Associated Press. "We're trying to quell the feeling of `let's get someone' and we will make as certain as we can that this isn't pushed under the rug."
Police don't believe the victims knew each other.
"There is no forensic evidence to link at this point," said homicide detective Sgt. Dave Walker. "Timing and location lead us to believe they may be connected."
The FBI is assisting in the investigation as part of a joint city-federal task force, dubbed "Operation Random Shooter," and will determine if any federal laws were broken, said Special Agent Clay Simmonds, FBI spokesman for the state of Oklahoma.
Police identified those killed as Dannaer Fields, 49, Bobby Clark, 54, and William Allen, 31. Fields was found wounded about 1 a.m. Friday, Clarke was found in a street about an hour later, and Allen was discovered in the yard of a funeral home about 8:30 a.m.
Minutes after Fields was found, police found two men with gunshot wounds in another yard two blocks away. They were taken to hospitals in critical condition but expected to survive, police said.
Police Capt. Steve Odom said in his 30 years with the police department, he’d never seen so many shootings happen in such a short time.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
Did anyone check to see if Zimmerman is hiding out in Tulsa?
What is the racial composition of the neighborhood? If it's AA, then you can't make the determination that the shooter was targeting AAs. If it's mixed or mostly non-AA, it is probably a solid theory.
North Tulsa is heavily black.
The shooter is white.
The victims are black and just happened to be outside at the wrong time.
This guy was targeting black people.
No motives yet, but it appears to be racially motivated.
Maybe its more black on black crime, but MSNBC wants to stir the pot again like with Zimmerman, the Iraqi girl in California. They hope its a white person just like most liberals! They will get egg on their faces again and then look for their next "embelished story".
Maybe you want to turn a blind eye because truly like what happened
What do you expect to happen when racists parade in the streets spreading hatred, lies and racism. Blacks in America are void of leadership and play the racist card every chance they get. They cause all of their own problems and blame it on us. Spread and inflame hatred and this is the result. This is what Obama does, divide America on racists issues.
I think we just found the shooter...
@topgun......yet another rampage by the "far-wrong" racist of fox spin; always dis-respecting & blaming Pres. Obama for EVERYTHING under the sun. Give your SILLY crap a rest. Recent "factual" statistics prove hate groups are on the rise since our first black president was elected. As in the civil rights era, the black race is in dire need of the NAACP, Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jessie Jackson OR whomever activists will fight on our behalf!!! Theirs' is a positive record of exposing racist mistreatment & inequality perpetrated against blacks. You might fool some whites into believing they're the bad guys, with your ugly spin BUT if you think you can tarnish their image among the black community with your name-calling/insulting their reputation etc., you are indeed a fool. Hateful rheteric won't deter their efforts. They have taken many enemies down. A person would have to be BRAIN-DEAD to believe racism against blacks don't exist in this country today. All one has to do is read online (as I have recently) all the hate-filled, rampant racist comments spewed against our many successful, well-loved & respected blacks; Pres. Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina (her daughter), Rihanna, the black actress in the Hunger Games, Travon, Rev. Sharpton/Jackson, NAACP etc., to prove unwarrranted bigotry against blacks. You can tell the race of many online posters by their tone; no empathy OR caring for black people as human beings BUT dehumanizing them as if they're animals, instead. Whenever black people comment about the hate OR mistreatment because of race, people with "racist views" are the ones screaming loudest how blacks are "playin' the race card". Fact is... if racists had not conjoured up the ugly "RACIST DECK" in the first place, race "CARDS" (as some like to call it) wouldn't be available for so-called "playing". As long as modern-day racists are bold enough to continue shuffling out racism from the dirty-bottom of their "racist decks", blacks will continue playing the hands "they" deal us by calling them "OUT" on it!!!!!!
How do you know what leaders we have since your such an expert on the matter. You do not even have your own talking points.
@topgun......and the "real truth" is President Obama, Rev. Sharpton/Jackson, NAACP, contrary to your "fox choir spinsters"- which seems to also include you as well are NOT the perpetraters of hate. They're the fighters against inequality. The real blame for this racial divide/hatred spewing throughout this country is being conjoured up by the hands of the tea-mobbers & "far wrong" politicians & their racist followers. Their pathetic oath of "doing everything to make sure Pres. Obama is a 1 term president" by dividing this country for political gain by ANY means necessary- even if it means destroying our country, I feel is treason. For these hypocrites to publicly dehumanize this leader of our country for the entire world to see is inexcusable & speaks volumes of their deep-seated bigotry !!
I am a white middle-aged male who moved to OK (not exactly by choice) about 13 years ago, i live about 40 miles from Tulsa and i can tell you personally that racism is very much alive and well in Oklahoma. A few months ago i was at work, in our breakroom, just me and two twentysomething white males. Not sure what they were talking about before one of them just said outright 'I hate n*****s' the other one concurred, and my brain nearly exploded. not the first time i've heard this crap and i'm sure it won't be the last.
Whoever did this deserves a check from Crimestoppers!
CNN reported this morning that it was a white man driveing a white pick up. He would approach the victems by asking for directions and would shoot them as they walked away.
In their back yards? Sounds like some white dude was ripped off in a crack deal and got angry...
You should know huh
Wouldn't this be just as accurate? Shooter targeting MEN in Tulsa, Oklahoma? All the victims were
black,men, promptingthe Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., NAACP Tulsa president, me to say that someone appeared to be "targetingblack peoplemen to shoot.” Why the race angle?Because the men were black.
Get it yet????
Because it was what happened lol damn you really don't like blacks huh
I grew up in t town. North tulsa is a rough part of town. No sane white person would be in north tulsa after dark
Exactly!!! And I live there!!! I'm the only white person in my neighborhood, and while the neighbors are all great, I sure as hell won't go local after dark!
You are a lie period
And so it begins.
Quit killing my fellow Americans please! All this is doing is putting more of Obama's debt on my back. $30,000 per American is enough. The more Americans you kill, the more debt is spread on to the rest of us. Stop It!!!
The shooter was a white junkie and when the negros told him the price he shot them,
This what law enforcement calls: A drug deal gone wrong!
You should know
Don't be stupid.We take care of our own business.AL Sharpton or Jesse Jackson do not do anything for me.I try to treat all people fairly as I expect to be treated.Otherwise,I can deal with anyone who wants to be "out of the loop".Self preservation is God's law.I follow it.
Where's ZIMMERMAN? This sick racist is One of HIS followers!!!!!!
Yea, To hell with due process. American Woman will lead the lynch mob..Back to the Past we go..
Get al and jessie over there,they'll whip it into a race, conspiracy, frenzy.
I only laugh because your hate shows
Nothing else will be heard about this once they find out it was black on black murder.
I guess you know more than the people shot. Must be nice to have that type of knowledge. I guess your father and his father laid that seed
Subject: Where
was the media when this happened?
Check it out "Google" Christopher Newsom and
Channon Christian.
The animals pictured at the very bottom of
this email car-jacked then raped Christopher Newsom, cut off his penis, set him
on fire and fatally shot him several times while they forced his girlfriend, Channon Christian, to watch. An even
more cruel fate awaited her!
Channon Christian was beaten and gang-raped in many ways for four days by
all of them, while they took turns urinating on her. They cut off her breasts
and put chemicals in her mouth... and then murdered her.
VICTIMS:
2 White people
PERPS:
6 black people
Knoxville (WVLT) - The District Attorney General of Knox County
announced the list of charges facing now five suspects in the double murder of
Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom.
The District Attorney General Randy Nichols is not saying
whether or not he will seek the death penalty, but he does say the State will
seek conviction for all charges filed in a 24-page indictment from theKnox
County Grand Jury.
Lemaricus Davidson, 25 ,
faces a total of 46 charges..
Letalvis Cobbins, 24 ,
faces a total of 46 charges.
George Thomas, 24 , faces a total of 46
charges.
Vanessa Coleman, 18 , faces 40 Tennessee
state charges .
Eric Boyd, 24 , also arrested in connection with the
fatal car jacking, only faces federal charges as an accessory after the fact.
Why hasn't this received National coverage by the news media?
Why hasn't the NAACP, ACLU, New York Times etc., called for an
investigation?
Why hasn't the FBI been called in to investigate this as a hate
crime?
Must be cause the victims were white!!!
So, if a white radio shock jock uses the phrase 'Nappy headed', it gets 2
weeks of constant news coverage.
If two white people are tortured, raped, and murdered by a group
of black people, it barely gets a blip in the news.
LET'S STOP THE DOUBLE STANDARDS!!!
h p,
If a white man molest a kid, he gets out and whites talk about how bad his childhood was and that is the reason he is mental and not a criminal!
It goes both ways!
I do not belive one single solitary "black person" has been convicted of a "hate crime" in the entire country. I would like someone to prove me wrong but I do not think you can. Apparently the black race is Immune to "hate crime" charges in America. So it doesnt go both ways. Its totally one sided when it comes to "hate crimes"
n america they need to get paid for cimes against them in the past,
then it will be even and we can prosicute negro's under federal hate rules?
And that has to do with this shooting because of what
More knowledge based individual. Hate crimes were put in place because your fathers and grandfather were not being charged with crimes of murder. In the other hand blacks don't have that problem smart person because they do get charged for any and all crimes committed but thanks for your hate crime speech oh truth based one
All victims were black males, so yes the killer is targeting a specific race and also gender. Its understandable for black people in that neighborhood to be scared. No one knows who the shooter is, his/her race or motivation. This is the work of one deranged lunatic and hope they catch him/her.
No, actually they do know that the shooter is a white male driving a white truck. Also, all of the victims were not male. There was also a female killed as well.
This must be scary for the negro community up there, don't know if he is black or white.
He was probably a white junkie asking the negro's the price of crack and did not like the price?
My cousins where big time dope dealers and the time of the shooting is very suspecus??
You have very good points.
Scared of what. No I believe you are the scared one. Maybe you should nut up and try it instead of living your hate through others but we both no you lack guts. Maybe that had something to do with the time and age and women. Scared hate
funny how there are those who will say being out at midnight for a stroll was an Innocent thing to do for them,
news flash for those of you who think their ages makes a difference, it doesn't,
where i grew up, grandmothers and grandfathers were selling dope on the streets as much as the "JITS"
i grew up in one of the worst neighborhoods in West Palm Beach Florida, where at first you could leave your doors unlocked all day, but now even having bars on the windows doesn't keep the criminals out.
been mugged more times than i care to count, and it was by pieces of crap that were from all races, but mostly from blacks since the populous was mostly black,
but in no way does that make all blacks bad because the actions of the few willing to take from someone else.
i just wish every time a white person farts, the so called minorities wouldn't jump the race card B.S. because that right there is to some considered a justifiable cause to commit acts like this,
if you get accused of some thing you didn't, there are some people willing to commit the acts they get accused of.
if the tables were turned, and it was a bunch of white people getting killed, would the media and the church leaders be allowed to speculate that it was a black person with out being called racists?
If you are out and a negro in your neighborhood, then 9 out of 10 you are a drug dealer
That is what zimmerman knew and that's why he followed martin! to a hero and stop another drug deal.
In sacramento, california you cannot wear "Hoodies" at the mall!
A basketball player was kicked-out due to wearing a hoodie and the black mayor agreed!
You are very right... I know I don't go out in my neighborhood in N Tulsa at that time of night... I'm not freaking crazy.... most of these people who say stuff about it being normal to walk around after midnight sure as heck aren't from this town!!!
What do you do if you work night shift?
Rubia you are a lie and you know it
First off it was the weekend and second Tulsa has a lot of things going on at all hours of the night including hospitals and stores in that area it don't matter what they were doing out the shooter was a chicken ..it like the poster of this comment and asked a direction question to put at ease then shot. Don't get it twisted he didn't pick young kids with guns he chose the ones he knew wouldn't. The weak choose to hate period
There is a lot depending on the Tulsa Police Department running a swift and effective investigation. There is much more to be learned about these shootings before any judgements can be passed. What is reported here is that three black men ages 49, 54 and 39 while walking on the street were shot dead and 2 more were shot but lived. All with in a defined time period and area.
These are people who have been murdered, Americans! I don't think that they care if they were murdered because of the color of their skin or not, they are dead. Whoever has taken these lives, whatever race they are from needs to pay the with their own life. I am so sick of the racism in our country, this is a melting pot people, if you don't like that you are free to return to whatever country that you may think you are from. It seems that we have pockets of racists in every race in this country and as soon as something terrible like this comes up it is "Our People". "Our people" sould be Americans , if one is attacked all is attacked, the more people here try to seperate out based on race the more hatred grows.
Aren't we jumping to conclusions (again)? Maybe we could wait for more facts first before making another story strictly a racial one.
Just a thought.
What makes you want to believe the facts are not in
Here is a theory that I have and it is not based on race even though this area seems dedicated to it.
All and I mean ALL welfare recipients should be made to do community service to receive these benefits. Ideas for service would be community watch groups, cleaning up their neighborhoods, helping services that benefit the seniors in thier area(maybe they would learn a thing or two). Help work on a community garden and learn to feed yourself quality local grown food. Also, all recipients should be made to take a random drug and alcohol test monthly to prove that they are upstanding citizens deserving of taking these benefits from their neighbors who support these programs through taxation.
Welfare and food stamp receipients should also be made to take a community nutrion class. No one on food stams should be aloud to purchase soda, sweets and other non staple items. If you are having a hard time, live within your means and eat wisely. Cut coupons and shop for sale items to make your benefits go further.
I am stating these ideas as a person who for the first time in their lives took public assistance due to a job loss. I didn't stay on the benefits and activily sought out employment of any kind. My family bought one newspaper a week(sunday) to get coupons to help stretch the benefits we were given. We often thought after the end of the month that we got too much assistance since we had a balance. We shopped wisely, grew vegtables when we had the proper weather. We made our own bread from the flour we purchased instead of buying the crap laden bread on the store shelves. Beans and rice were are main courses many a night. We drank water and orange juice(concentrate). We never bought soda, cupcakes, fruity cereal, hot dogs, potatoe chips and other non essential items. Hate to say it, maybe there should be a store in every city that only sells staples and are also the only stores that can take the cards given by the states.
I am sure people will say this is racist but the fact is, it isn't.
Spelling police are out. Actually tryping fast caused it. But thanks for pointing it out. Hope you got more out of my comment than my spelling errors.
This comment seems ignorant... seriously... how many mothers who need to take assistance really have the means to abandon their children to do your crazy community service deeds?
@rubiamomma, how about those mothers help each other out as part of their service. Take assistance and take responsibility. Set a neighborhood program in place that a different mother on any given day takes the kids to a center designed for child care. Help with the care while said mother goes out to find gainful employment, help with her community and other deeds? Why should taxpayers have to support people not willing to help themselves.
What you are saying in this case is that I should not have left my child with a trusting neighbor and friend while I went out to find employment. Seem to me that your thinking is ignorant and part of the problem.
By the way, maybe if the children see that sitting around and doing nothing doesn't solve the problems at hand, maybe they too will learn that being responsible and helping the community is a good start to getting ahead in life.
You act like your little bit in taxes support many people lol
The CNN report quotes a Tulsa police captain as saying that the shooter is a white male, believed to be in a white truck, who asks the victims for directions before shooting them.
This is so sick and so sad. More senseless killing. I hope they find the guy before he hurts anyone else. Then we will learn whether or not his crimes were racially motivated. It certainly seems like a plausible theory at this point.
@ Pattie in MD......glad you caught the newscast. I feel that this act was in some form an act of retaliation that targeted the black community in Tulsa. If anyone harbors hate for a certain race, then they would stalk that race where there is a high concentration. This person is insane and his hatered overides his fear for his life thus he would avoid the traditional warnings of being a white person in a black neighborhood after dark.
Maybe retaliation for the burglarizing and beating of the elderly white couple that left the wife dead? That sounds like enough to set someone off who was already a loose cannon. You are right, crazies know no fear.
If it's a white guy then it's truly a hate crime. No victims knew each other. This guy is retaliating for Zimmerman. Let me guess he'll get off for claiming self defense too.
Reading many of the comments in the blogs relating to the Zimmerman case, this does not surprise me. White people seem to feel that Zimmerman should be allowed to go scot free after killing Trayvon, and no one was supposed to say anything.
He needs to be euthanized like all animals....
Words of George Zimmerman: They always get away! Are you following him sir, Yes! No self Defense there! He initiated the confrontation after calling him a @!$%#.. Coon....But of course many on here will make an explanation for this racial epithet. We can have differing opinions but we can never have different facts. The terrorist called Zimmerman will be prosecute by the feds because the State of Florida seem to be too chicken @!$%# to enforce the law..Its not about race ITS ALL ABOUT THE MURDERING OF A TEENAGER BY AN ADULT MALE WHO HAS 2 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ASSAULTS, AN ASSAULT ON A POLICE OFFICER AND A RESTRAINING OFFICER, AND A 9 MM HANDGUN...The victim had skittles, an ice tea and a cell phone....Sorry guys!!!!You can't spin the facts!!!!He is going to prison and I don't care who dooesn't like it because if it were my son, then I would be on trial....
Honestly... being a white person in Tulsa I can see retaliation IF that was the actual cause... My friend walked to the store (she's white) and asked a woman to borrow a lighter... the lady said no because she is white... my friend said hi to another person at the store she walked to, just 'hi how are you', and he said something along the lines of 'thats discrimination'... seriously?! (she's not from here, so she is used to saying hi to whoever she runs into) If anyone is being discriminated against in Tulsa it is the white community... OH WAIT THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE... But I guess I could see someone who could not take it anymore retaliating... it does kind of suck sometimes, I'm not from here and was shocked at how different it is... hell, you call the police over a fight in the street here and they roll their eyes and do not come out...
Rubiamomma is a lie