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Subscribe to RSSA series of shootings on Saturday have authorities searching for suspects in Tulsa, Oklahoma. NBC's John Yang reports.
TULSA, Okla. -- Residents of Tulsa's predominantly black north side said Saturday they're afraid a shooter is still roaming their neighborhoods looking for victims after five people were shot — and three killed — a day earlier.
"We're all nervous," said Renaldo Works, 52, who was getting his hair cut at the crowded Charlie's Angels Forever Hair Style Shop. "I've got a 15-year-old, and I'm not going to let him out late. People are scared. We need facts.
"You don't want to be a prisoner in your own home."
2 arrested in connection with Tulsa shootings
Police are still waiting for the results of forensic tests, but investigators think the shootings are linked because they happened around the same time within a 3-mile span, and all five victims were out walking when they were shot.
Though all five of the victims were black, Tulsa Police Chief Chuck Jordan told Reuters 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.
"It's just not time for us to say that," Jordan said. "Right now I'm worried about more of my citizens being murdered."
Task force hunts killer after Tulsa shooting spree
However, KRMG reported that the FBI announced that the shootings would be investigated under federal hate crime legislation.
One of the victims told police that the shooter was a white man driving a white pickup truck who stopped to ask for directions before opening fire. Officer Jason Willingham said Saturday that the pickup was spotted in the area of three of the shootings.
More than two dozen officers are investigating the case, along with the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and other agencies, Willingham said. Citing Jordan, KRMG reported that the the task force had been dubbed "Operation Random Shooter."
As investigators searched for the killer, the tension and fear among some of the city's black residents was palpable.
"It's got everybody on edge," said Louis Johnson, 24. "Everybody is saying the same thing — it's a white guy in a white pickup or a Tahoe."
'Pretty shocking'
Barber Charles Jones, 40, said the north side has had its share of crime trouble, but residents have never faced a series of random killings like these.
"It's pretty shocking," Jones said. "We've never had any serial-type stuff."
At a neighborhood park a couple blocks from two of the shootings, parents kept close watch over their kids during an Easter egg hunt.
"The first I heard of it, it sounded like some type of gangland thing," said 47-year-old parent Wayne Bell, who was hiding plastic eggs in the grass. "Everybody's asking why. Everybody has to just stick together. It's more of a keep close to the nest thing right now."
The Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., president of the Tulsa NAACP, said "avid distrust" between the black community and the police department had raised concerns that the shootings wouldn't be fully investigated, and he contacted police to emphasize the need for them to work together to avoid vigilantism.
"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," he said. "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."
Corruption allegations
Tulsa's police department has been tainted by accusations of corruption. Three ex-police officers and a former federal agent were sentenced to prison in December after a two-year investigation involving allegations of falsified search warrants, nonexistent informants, perjury and stolen drugs and money. Two other ex-officers were acquitted of stealing money during an FBI sting but fired after an internal affairs investigation.
More than a half-dozen lawsuits have been filed by people who claim they were wrongfully locked up by police, and nearly 40 people had their convictions overturned or prison sentences commuted as a result of the corruption probe. Prosecutors have suggested the five police officers who were charged were part of a broader plot in which corrupt officers stole money and drugs, conducted illegal searches and fabricated evidence without fear of getting caught.
Four of Friday's shooting victims were found in yards, and the fifth in a street. Police identified those killed as Dannaer Fields, 49, Bobby Clark, 54, and William Allen, 31. Fields was found wounded about 1 a.m. Friday, Clark 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., though investigators believe he was shot much earlier.
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 were expected to survive, police said. Willingham said one of those men described the shooter as being white.
"The police chief has assured me they are doing all they can," Blakney said. "We don't want anybody else hurt, white or black."
Authorities asked people to come forward with any information on the shootings.
"All citizens of Tulsa understand the significance of this event," Mayor Dewey Bartlett added.
The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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This whole situation is scary and hopefully they'll catch this guy very soon.
It's still too early to tell if it's a hate crime. Once the killer is caught, it'll be interesting to see if he has hate material in his possession or if he has a past of violence toward other races. If he does, the division between us is going to escalate and it'll bring on more violence.
I hope they catch this evil person and shoot him dead in the street for all to see. He is the lowest of all and God will see that he burns in hell.
They already caught the 2 subjects
Unbelievable! I wonder if that Florida case (that has been so hyped by the media and public) somehow led to this.
good question; sensationalism is the order of the day - ratings and an eye on a Pulitzer is what drives most of the media machines today -- clearly it's not objectivity.
This is shame. Tulsa is nice city.
2 men arrested.
Another article that I find absolutely positively . . . ARRGGGHHHH!!!! Here we have a very serious situation taking place . . . innocent people/bystanders being shot at & murdered and what is the first sentence in the article "predominantly black north side" . . . from there just about every other sentence to every other paragraph yeilds more racial reference . . .
"a white man, in a white pick up truck" witness say . . . hhhmmm, no actual facts but the article goes on "here say" & runs with it . . . mmm, yeah that is really going to help the investiagtion as well unite people who are already on the offensive side when it comes to differences . . .
We are never gonna make a change, improvment if we keep allowing & excepting this . . . articles & media "reporting" are gonna add an explosive fuel to a already burning subject . . .
Maybe I missed it but I really did not see any mention to the victims . . . ages? what were they doing at the time of the attack? what area they were in? were the shopping? so forth so forth . . . they just kinda jumbled them up in the article & moved on to another bit . . . mmm, sad . . . sad . . . sad
Well Bogart, I hate sensationalism as much as the next man, but all five victims were in fact black; and since two of them were only wounded, they were able to give the description of their assailant to the police... white man, white pickup truck. If a specific neighborhood is being targeted, and the media has a description of the killer; how dumb would it be not to publish the information about the neighborhood, who's apparently being targeted, and a descripition of the killer?
19 and 32
too early to tell if it's a hate crime? Not sure if the shootings are linked? I would call a murderous shooting spree a hate crime, I would call any murder a hate crime. And to have all these shootings within minutes of each other yet question if they're linked? No wonder Tulsa's PD is such a mess. I am a white conservative from a northern state but can see this is racially motivated. This is wrong on every level! Condolences to the victims and I hope they catch this POS quickly, people should not be prisoners in their own homes and neighborhoods.
The race war is getting started, and when it finally comes to an end, you will all see how stupid you are.
Two suspects were arrested. One was 19 and the other 32. Both suspects are male and white. The various law enforcement agencies should be commended for the timely arrest.
Can't wait to hear the 'Reverend's' on this one.
Hmmmm ... let's see how this plays out against the DC Sniper Shootings in '02 ... where the killers, John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, were ... both BLACK! No hate there huh, Reverend's?
Don't really pay much attention to Sharpton and the "other" Reverends.....They have made millions from race baiting for decades, and of course the white folk in this country fall in line like lemmings....
I worked in some of the northern counties in Penna, and the black population wouldn't even drive through the area.....They would disappear.
Had over 60years of listening to the plight of the down troden blacks in this country......But we always seem to be kissing their asses for some unknown reason.
Yeah I'm sure conservatives will come out in defense of who ever committed these shootings, and claim self defense after being attacked by these individuals for no apparent reason, and was clearly in fear for their life and the real victims here..., also obviously not racially motivated simply because all of the victims were black..., hmmm were all of the John Allen Muhammad, Lee Boyd Malvo victims black?
I'm just trying to figure out the connection or similarity that you are implying here...
Hmm racial tensions are getting so thick you can cut them with a knife. This case and the Martin/Zimmerman case in Florida are both appalling. Not just for their racial overtones, but for the type of thinking that caused them. Are we now a species of victims? No individual's problems can be blamed on an entire race of people. I do mean no individual. A white "race" is not responsible for the criminal actions a white shooter who kills blacks. The black "race" isn't, responsible for a black shooter that kills whites.
Different is not evil, it is merely different. Amoral and socially irresponsible behavior is the nature of mankind. All of it. When we start to see evil in the faces of people, solely because of race, we are prone to a host of problems such as this.
If you'd like to hate me, fine... but be rational about it. Hate me because "I" did something to you. Condemning me or any other individual for the actions of others is futile, and cheapens all lives.
Neither of the suspects in this case have been tried or convicted of anything. If they are the perpetrators their actions are heinous and I hope they are exposed to the full measure of the justice system. That being said, it would be ridiculous for me to condemn all Caucasians on the actions of these 2. Just as it's ridiculous to think that all blacks harbor some criminal intent, or all middle easterners are terrorist.
We are becoming victims in our own heads. We are saying things like, all my problems are someone else's fault. Then we are pointing at the first group we can find that is different, and calling them someone else. That's not good. I for one refuse to accept that as a normal operating condition.
I have been hurt by individuals. To those individuals, I hereby absolve your respective races of responsibility for your actions. In fact, I absolve you. Any pain you may have caused me, made me who I am and I like me.
I look forward to an America and a world, where more people can say the same.
God seperated the races for a reason and we will soon figure out why.
His father was murdered by a black man, and you go and kill innocent men in his honor? I can understand the racist comments towards the fathers killer, it's pure anger at that time but not the pure hate towards a race! It was one man whom murdered not those poor men. And for the other guy, wow! Must of had a very hard life.. he looks about 50 or more! Stop the hate!!!
this is terrible on any level.....but so wasn't what happen on April 2, 2012 in Sanford Florida that you haven't heard about........
two black youths beat a 50 yr old white man with a hammer in the head on April 2, 2012. this happen in Sanford Fl the same town Trayvon Martin was shot.....heard about it, probably not..only on local news channel 9 in orlando. you can google it.....REPORT NEWS FAIRLY.....that's all we ask.
Did the police decide not to take any action, or not to make any arrest at all?
I don't see any similarity with that case unless the police are not taking some action or making an arrest.
Seems like to me the crime happened in a totally different manner and situation.
Next thing you know the 2 black men will be off scott free when the mouths begin to flap.
Thats the problem with society today when it happens to a black man its news but if it happens to a white man we shrug it off.
Maybe we only give a @!$%# because it is whoever has the louder mouth.
If any type of injustice happens it is a tragedy, no matter the race. The fact that the kid's father was killed is a tragedy. The killer is about to get out, I do not know how or why. If he was in TX that would not be happening. The kid is now no better the the man who murdered his father. The killings are going to be considered a hate crime because he drove around randomly looking for black men to kill. He did not wait to kill the person who murdered his father. Life is just going to get worse for this kid and he did not accomplish anything.
There is one obvious difference that you refuse to acknowledge, and that is, in most cases when a white person is the victim, there is an arrest and the wheels of justice begin to turn..., but when the victim is black it takes mass protests in many cases and being forced into the news nationally just to get the attention that a white victim would receive normally without any protest or media attention.
It seems as though you are expecting not only that justice is served for a white victim, but also that the entire race be condemned for the crimes of a few. Sure it is easy to point out crimes that were committed by blacks, but for every instance you could just as easily find a similar crime committed by a white, do you condemn the entire white race for these crimes? Justice should be blind when it comes to race, religion and dispensed with impartiality.
Do you expect to be treated differently because of race?
This case would have received just as much media attention if 5 white people had been shot in the same area and in the same manner, so why would it anger anyone that the killing of 3 human beings and attempted killing of 2 others made the national news?