Two arrests after fatal shootings in Oklahoma

Two men, both white, were arrested early on Sunday and charged with three counts of murder, and two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

They have been named as Jake England, aged 19, and 32 year old Alvin Watts. A police spokesman said a tip-off to the force’s anonymous Crime Stoppers line had led to the two men.

The arrests will come as some relief to local residents in Tulsa’s predominantly black north side, after five people were shot seemingly at random in the early hours of Friday morning. All the victims were black, all appeared to have been targeted while they were out walking.

Dannaer Fields, aged 49, Bobby Clark, who was 54, and 31 year old William Allen all died from their wounds, while two other men who were also shot are in a critical condition in hospital.

Police said all the shootings had happened within a three-mile radius at around the same time, and set up a task force called Operation Random Shooter, with 30 officers backed by the FBI to run the investigation.

Local people talked of fear within the community after what seemed like random shootings. “People are scared. We need facts.” said the owner of one local hair salon, while one resident described the area as like a “war zone”. Inevitably, after witnesses suggested the shooter had been a white mane driving a pickup truck, there was talk of a possible racial motive.

Racial motive?

Dr Warren Blakney, a pastor who heads the local branch of the NAACP told a local paper that someone seemed to be “targeting black people to shoot.” And city councilman Jack Henderson, who represents the district where the shootings happened, told CNN “You have somebody who has come into a community and taken shots at, killing black people. To me, that would indicate that we have some kind of a racial problem.” He described what had happened as a “crisis situation” which had left people afraid for their lives, and for their children.

The police insisted it was too early to establish a motive. The city’s police chief, Chuck Jordan, told reporters on Saturday there was a “very logical theory” pointing to a hate crime, but, he added: “I’m a police officer. I’ve got to go by evidence.” They’re now waiting for forensic tests to confirm whether or not the shootings were linked.

The widow of one of the victims, William Allen, said she was still trying to come to terms with what had happened. Jeanette Allen told the Tulsa World that her husband had been a “sweet, caring” man, and the couple had been making plans to celebrate his birthday later this week. “Why? Why did this happen?” she said. “He didn’t deserve that.”

Black leaders have been at pains to call for calm within the community, and encourage co-operation with the police – but it may be too soon for the fear, and the suspicion, to subside.

Felicity Spector writes about US affairs for Channel 4 News