Norman mayor witnesses shooting

NORMAN — Police have arrested a 20-year-old man in connection with a latenight s hooting Thursday outside a Campus Corner bar that was witnessed by Norman Mayor Breea Clark.

Charles Cotton was booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center on Friday morning on a complaint of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, police said in a news release. He remained jailed on a $200,000 bond, records show.

Cotton was one of f our people taken into custody following the shooting, which left a man hospitalized with multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

In a phone interview, Clark told The Oklahoman she left O' Connell' s Irish Pub& Grille on Asp Avenue about 11:30 p.m. Thursday when she heard gunfire coming from across the street outside Logie's on the Corner.

“I was looking down at the phone when I heard the shots,” she said. “I heard a pop, pop, pop. It was straight out of the movies.”

Clark said she saw a Black male fire the gun and a muzzle flash.

Four males took off running, she said. The mayor said she saw them get in a white car with a spoiler and speed off.

She said she overheard one of the males tell the shooter “I can't believe you did that.”

Clark, who gave police a statement, said she was standing about 10 feet from a white male who was shot twice in the leg and once in t he abdomen. The victim remained hospitalized Friday in stable condition, police said. Police did not identify him.

Officers responded to the shooting in the 700 block of Asp Avenue about 11:29 p.m. Thursday, authorities said. Officers in the area stopped a suspect vehicle as it left the scene and took four people into custody.

Three of the individuals were released after speaking with investigators, who determined the shooting stem med from a dist urbance at the location, police reported.

Clark, who runs the college of business leadership program at the University of Oklahoma, told The Oklahoman she visited several bars Thursday night to see whether patrons were complying with the city's ordinance requiring face coverings in public places.

“I wanted to observe how the facial covering ordinance was working with young people,” she said.

The ordinance also calls for bars and bar areas in restaurants to limit capacity to the number of seats available and close standing-room only areas to patrons.

Clark reported seeing “no masks” and “massive groups,” and took pictures to document her findings.

“Half the staff wasn't even wearing masks,” she said. “It was concerning.”