Tulsa, Okla.: Fear spreads after 5 blacks are shot
Associated Press
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Residents of Tulsa's predominantly black north side said Saturday they fear a shooter is still roaming their neighborhoods looking for victims after five people were shot - three of them 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 on Saturday. "I've got a 15-year-old, and I'm not going to let him out late. People are scared."
Investigators believe the shootings are linked as they took place at about the same time and within a 3-mile area. All five victims were black, and all were out walking when they were shot.
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.
"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."
More than two dozen officers are investigating the case, along with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.
"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 the Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., president of the Tulsa NAACP. "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."
Charles Jones, 40, said the north side has 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 children during an Easter egg hunt.
"Everybody has to just stick together," said parent Wayne Bell, 47. "It's more of a keep close to the nest thing right now."
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.
Blakney said distrust between the African American community and the Police Department had raised concerns the shootings wouldn't be fully investigated, and he contacted police to emphasize the need for them to work together to avoid vigilantism.
The Tulsa 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.
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