Tulsa’s homeless react to crimes
Tulsa World paighten.hawkins @tulsasworld.com
TULSA — Just before dark Tuesday, three people retreated underneath an overpass in west downtown, behind the Tulsa jail. They’d trekked up a steep concrete incline to their makeshift shelter at the apex, just beneath the bridge. It’s open to the front, partly enclosed on the sides by metal support beams. Every time a car passes, a low, loud rumble fills the tiny space.
Staci Owens, 44, and Shawn Teague, 40, sat on a ledge on an assortment of foam pads and blankets. Cory Banta, 39, sat below them with his back against the ledge and his legs in front of him, resting on the slope.
The three knew Shawn Birdo, the 46-year-old killed Labor Day morning when the driver of a white truck allegedly ran over him, his girlfriend Cynthia Wallace, and James Russell as they slept on the ground underneath an overpass less than half a mile away.
“Seven months we’ve been going through this,” Teague said. “People dying, getting stabbed. This is just one of the things you deal with.”
Living on the street, one is aware of his or her vulnerability. When you sleep outside, you see things. A few months ago, for instance, Owens and Teague saw one of their friends get stabbed to death. It’s the reality of living outdoors among a population of people prone to mental health and substance abuse issues.
So, sure, when you hear someone is apparently targeting homeless people, it causes anxiety. But, really, what can you do?
For Owens and Teague, the answer was close to nothing.
Still, Banta contended, he felt nervous as he walked to work that morning. At that point, the alleged assailant, Jeremy Thacker, hadn’t yet been arrested.
“It was kind of an uneasy feeling (because) you never know,” he said, adding, “I’m new to this.”
Thacker, 46, didn’t give police a statement Tuesday before he was booked into Tulsa jail on a complaint of first-degree murder and five counts of assault with a deadly weapon after a former felony conviction.
A senseless act
Before Thacker’s arrest, many among Tulsa’s homeless population felt rattled, according to interviews the Tulsa World conducted Tuesday and Wednesday with people who are homeless and staying in the downtown area.
Each learned of the incident in their own way, either from law enforcement searching for the culprit or through word of mouth from others on the streets.
The details were disturbing. First, early Monday, a man in white pickup pulled up to the QuikTrip near 14th Street and Carthage Avenue and attacked a sleeping man on a bench.
Shortly afterward, that same truck was seen running into three people sleeping under a bridge on North Cheyenne Avenue, just outside the John 3:16 Mission. That evening, the same truck struck a woman sitting outside the same QuikTrip from the first assault.
No one knew who did it, but everyone was on the lookout for a white truck.
John 3:16 CEO Rev. Steve Whitaker said, in recent months, he’s noticed more violent incidents involving people who are homeless.
In June, a woman who was sleeping under a downtown bridge was raped and stabbed. A few days later, a fight involving homeless people underneath the bridge near the Katy Trail where Owens, Teague and Banta stay turned deadly.
About two months later, police arrested a suspected serial rapist who’d reportedly trapped a homeless woman in his home and raped her.
Outside those incidents, Whitaker said, he’s seen more general resentment toward people who are homeless than he’s seen in the past.
“If you are asking for my theory, my theory is that there’s a lack of understanding about the nature of homelessness within our community,” he said.
The general homeless population, Whitaker said, are working people who’ve lost their jobs. Outside that, there are groups of people who’ve “embraced the lifestyle.” Then there’s a third group, who typically aren’t homeless.
“Those are the people you see panhandling around town. I would just say that very seldom do I ever see somebody who I know who’s homeless who are panhandling,” he said.