Police arrest 2 suspects in Tulsa shootings

Apr 08, 2012

Media nationwide are reporting that police backed by a helicopter arrested two white men early Sunday and said they would face murder charges in the recent shootings that terrorized Tulsa and left three people dead and two others critically wounded, all black.

Tulsa police spokesman Jason Willingham is reported to have said the two men were arrested at a home just north of Tulsa at 1:47 a.m. Sunday and they were expected to face three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill after a spate of shootings early Friday. He said police acted on an anonymous tip and went to one location and followed the suspects after they had traveled about a half mile on foot to another place where they were apprehended. He declined to characterize that as a pursuit.

While police identified the men as white, authorities declined to discuss the circumstances of the shootings nor questions raised in the community about race.

“There obviously still is a lot of investigation” ahead, Willingham told The Associated Press by telephone. “We don‘t’ have a motive at this time. We are still asking questions and hopefully that will become clear in coming days.”

Willingham identified the men in custody as 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts, and gave no hometowns for them. He said the two men were taken early Sunday for questioning at a downtown Tulsa police station. He said they would be booked and jailed and more details would be provided at a news conference later in the afternoon.

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