Killing suspect wrongly released from Tulsa jail

TULSA — The teenager accused of fatally shooting a Broken Arrow teacher on Sunday had been released from jail three days before the homicide took place due to a breakdown in communication at the time of his arrest in property crimes, a Tulsa Police official said Thursday.

Deonte Green, 16, has been jailed since late Sunday on first-degree murder, first-degree rape, robbery and other complaints in connection with the death of geography teacher Shane Anderson, the sexual assault of an 81-yearold woman and reported armed robberies that day.

Tulsa police officials told the Tulsa World this week that at least two detective units had intelligence about Green’s risk to the community before the homicide occurred, which could have been better communicated internally.

“It’s just concerning when you have someone of that age — I mean, he’s 16 years old — and you already have members of a detective unit that already know who he is,” Sgt. Shane Tuell said Wednesday. “His activity as such a young youth — when you know him by name at the age of 16, that’s not good.”

Sgt. Dave Walker called the crimes “evil” and said authorities will hold Green accountable for his actions.

But his mother, Ebony Green, and his stepfather, Mario Brown, are publicly questioning the circumstances of his two most recent arrests. They said Deonte Green has a mental illness that’s been exacerbated by the 2011 death of his father and the 2015 passing of his grandmother, but they maintained he is not a killer or a rapist.

“He’s been through a lot in his life,” Ebony Green said. “And ever since then (in 2015) it’s been where he’s been more depressed and wanting to kill himself. But he’s never said he wanted to harm somebody or been like, ‘I’m going to go out today and commit a crime.’ No. And I asked for help. He’s been going to a psych doctor since he was 5 years old.”

Deonte Green was booked at the Tulsa Jail on Sept. 22 as a youthful offender on complaints of second-degree burglary, knowingly concealing stolen property, tampering with a surveillance system and malicious injury to property based on claims he broke into a storage unit, stole a bike and pulled down surveillance cameras. But Oklahoma laws relating to youthful offenders indicate Green should have been treated as a juvenile instead.