Tulsa Co. Sheriff’s Deputies Serving Warrant Shoot, Kill Man

By Dan Bewley and NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa County Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a man Friday morning. It happened as the Tulsa County Special Operations SWAT Team was serving a warrant for drugs.

The sheriff's office says the case is now in the hands of the Tulsa Police Department as they look into the circumstances that lead to the shooting.

It happened at about 7:30 a.m. inside a building in the 1800 block of North Kingston Place. The building is said to be the clubhouse of the Tulsa Rogues Motorcycle Club. 

The SWAT Team had a warrant for marijuana and methamphetamine. Investigators say when they entered the building, one man was lying face down on the floor with his hands tucked underneath him. 

Deputies told the man to show his hands but, they say, instead he reached for a gun on a nearby bookshelf.

"As he grabbed the gun, he turned it in the direction of the officers and we believe at this time three of our officers fired simultaneously and at this time the suspect is dead," said Sgt. Shannon Clark, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies say the suspect died at the scene.

The Tulsa Police Department is handling the investigation of the shooting, and the FBI is being brought in to take over the drug investigation. 

"The Tulsa Police Department's Homicide Unit was contacted and brought to the scene. They are willing to investigate this because we are in the city limits of Tulsa and it's involving the agency, so we're not investigating our own incident," said Clark.

Other people were inside the building at the time of the shooting and are being questioned. No one else was injured in the shooting.

Neighbor Paula Stevens lives a block away and was preparing for a yard sale when the shooting took place. 

"Sounded like a bomb going off, twice," she said.

Neighbors in the area had mixed reports to give of the clubhouse. One man said the group helped keep suspicious people off their property.

Stevens said that she had not heard much from the group until Friday morning - other than the sound of their motorcycles.

"They hang out, basically, behind it," she said. "They don't really - there's a lot of bikes that come and go all through the night."

A business owner in the area says he did have several run ins with the men from the club. He says they tried to spray paint his building, even threaten him with violence.

The Tulsa Police Bomb Squad was called to the scene after deputies discovered what they believed was an explosive device. It has been determined that it was not a bomb.

The name of the victim has not been released.