(KTUL)
(KTUL)
TULSA, Okla. — Police arrested two men early Sunday in connection with the North Tulsa shootings that saw three black people killed and another two injured, police said.
Cops apprehended two white males — 19-year-old Jake England and Alvin Watts, 32 — at 1:47am local time, KOKI reported.
They will be charged with three counts of murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill.
A statement from the Tulsa Police Department said, “Within 24 hours of its formation, the task force ‘Operation Random Shooter’ has completed its mission. Our sympathy goes out to the families of the victims and we hope that our efforts can bring some resolution and closure to these heinous acts.”
“We would like to thank everyone that assisted and more information will be forthcoming in a Sunday afternoon press conference,” it added.
The victims, all black, were seemingly shot at random as they walked in the street during a seven-hour period early Friday.
The killer did not utter slurs before blasting his victims with a small-caliber handgun, said investigators, who are trying to learn if the same weapon was used in each attack.
Police did not rule out the possibility of a hate-fueled rampage.
“If that’s where our investigation takes us, that’s where we’ll go,” Tulsa Police Officer Jason Willingham told The Post.
The shootings took place within three miles in Tulsa’s mostly black north side.
At 1:03 a.m, the gunman shot Dannaer Fields, 49, police said. She was rushed to the hospital where she died.
Three minutes later, he fired at two unidentified men, hitting one in the arm and the other in the torso.
They were hospitalized in critical condition, but are expected to live, said cops.
Before 2 a.m., Bobby Clark, 54, was shot dead, also in the torso.
A fifth victim, William Allen, 31, was discovered in the yard of a funeral home at about 8:30 a.m., police said. He had also taken a fatal shot to the torso.
“We assume that a [fifth] shooting occurred in the same time frame as the last four,” said Willingham.
Homicide Detective Sgt. Dave Walker said investigators have no forensic test results yet, but believe the attacks are linked because they happened at around the same time in the same area and all five victims were out walking.
Fields was found on Charles Shoemaker’s front lawn. Shoemaker said he didn’t hear any commotion before the bloodshed.
“I was awoken by my dog making a bunch of noise around one-fifteen,” said Shoemaker, 43. “I opened my front door and there’s a police officer.
“I didn’t even believe when he told me there was a body on my front yard so I came out.
“It looked like she was laying balled up in the fetal position,” he said.
Cathy Privette, one of Fields’ neighbors, said the victim was deeply religious. “I would give her rides to church,” Privette, 54, said.
She added that Fields, who lived alone, was always dressed as if she was headed to Sunday Mass.
Black community leaders met Friday evening in an effort to calm unrest and promote safety.
The Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., who heads the Tulsa NAACP, told the Tulsa World newspaper that someone seems to be “targeting black people to shoot.”
“I’m on edge for my people,” he said.
Residents of the north side fear an armed bigot is roaming the streets.
“We’re all nervous,” said Renaldo Works, 52, who was getting his hair cut at a salon yesterday morning.
“I’ve got a 15-year-old, and I’m not going to let him out late,” Works added. “People are scared.”
Blakney warned that distrust between cops and the city’s African-American community could prompt vigilantism.
More than a half-dozen citizens have sued the city, claiming wrongful arrest, and almost 40 people have had convictions overturned or sentences cut in a federal corruption probe of the Tulsa police.
“The police chief has assured me they are doing all they can,” Blakney added. “We don’t want anybody else hurt, white or black.”
Shoemaker, one of the few white people living in the neighborhood, said he feared being targeted for retribution.
“I’m always armed,” he warned. “I’m more inclined to carry now,” he said, although he concedes he doesn’t have a concealed weapons permit.