Protest follows shooting
TULSA, Okla. — Three Oklahoma law enforcement officers fatally shot a black man while trying to pick him up for a mental health issue Friday, triggering a protest on a city street that prompted dozens of officers in riot gear to intervene.
Tulsa County sheriff’s deputies were attempting to pick up the 29-year-old man near his house, but the man walked away and to a nearby convenience store instead, Tulsa police spokesman Leland Ashley said.
Two deputies and a Tulsa police officer opened fire before the man could enter the store when they discovered he was carrying two knives and became concerned about the safety of the people who were inside the business, Ashley said.
The deputies who fired are white and the police officer is black. All three have been put on routine administrative leave. Police didn’t release the name of the man who was shot.
Ashley said authorities are reviewing footage believed to have been recorded by police dashboard and store surveillance cameras. He said an officer’s body camera also might have captured what happened.
Dozens of black residents gathered at an intersection near the store within minutes of the shooting on Tulsa’s north side. Some shouted, “Hands up, don’t shoot!”
At least two dozen officers and deputies wearing riot gear assembled in the store’s parking lot. The crowd of residents eventually dispersed.
Some residents questioned why officers didn’t use less lethal means to restrain the man, given his fragile mental state.
Cleo Harris, who stood behind the yellow tape that authorities used to cordon off the scene, said blacks like him who live on the city’s north side are fed up with what they perceive as a double standard.
“People are upset, they’re tired,” the 50-year-old Harris said. “Black residents in north Tulsa want to be treated the same way (police) treat residents on the south side.”
Angelica Hearn, 33, the next-door neighbor of the man who was killed, said: “He didn’t bother no one. The police should’ve sent someone equipped to handle this.”