White Man Shoots Black Police Chief Four Times and Walks Free
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Brendan O'Connor
Filed to: oklahoma
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The white man who shot Sentinel, Oklahoma's black police chief three times in the chest and once in the arm on Thursday morning was released after questioning, The Oklahoman reports.
Investigating authorities did not disclose the name of the man they'd taken into custody, but the mayor of Sentinel, Sam Dlugonski, and a neighbor who lives across the street from the house where the shooting took place identified him as one Dallas Horton.
"Facts surrounding the case lead agents to believe the man was unaware it was officers who made entry," the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation wrote in a news release.
The shooting came about after a 911 call was made around 4 a.m. on Thursday, The Oklahoman reports. The caller told dispatchers there was a bomb at the Sentinel Community Action Center, which houses the city's Head Start program.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol's bomb squad checked for an explosive device and found nothing; Sentinel police chief Louis Ross and deputies from the Washita County sheriff's office visited the address from which the 911 call was thought to have been made—Dallas Horton's address.
Officers broke down the front door and cleared one bedroom, Dlugonski said. Ross walked into a second bedroom where he was shot four times. "He would be dead if it wasn't for the bullet-proof vest," Dlugonski said.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, from 2:13 a.m. to 4:40 a.m.—around the same time as the 911 call—Horton posted eight status updates on Facebook. One expressed anxiety about the spread of Sharia law in America. Another compared America to Nazi Germany. A third expressed disappointment that the White House sent officials to Michael Brown's funeral—referred to as "this thug"—and none to Paris.
Dallas Horton deactivated his Facebook page this morning.
According to The Oklahoman, authorities removed several guns from Horton's home on Thursday. The mayor described Horton as Dlugonski a "gun enthusiast" and "survivalist." A Facebook post from Wednesday on Horton's page states, "I'd rather have a gun in my hand than a cop on the phone."
Update, 11:20 a.m. – The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation determined that the 911 call did not come from Horton's house. "Everything is still under investigation," spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.
[Image via Face |
