Drug, Weapons Suspect Shot And Killed By Tulsa Police

A man is dead after police say he shot at officers and an officer returned fire.

Tulsa police say officers went to the home of 37-year-old Shaunday Mullins on Tuesday morning to arrest him and serve a search warrant for drugs and firearms.

The Tulsa Police Department says the warrant being served was considered “high-risk,” so they took extra precautions.

Officers say Mullins was no stranger to police and had a violent past, even fighting with officers when he was arrested in July, so they decided to use their special operations team.

They say that soon after the officers arrived in an armored vehicle, Mullins came outside with a gun and fired a shot.  An officer in the armored vehicle returned fire, police say.

Police said they had EMSA on standby and paramedics took Mullins to the hospital, where he died.

Tulsa Police say they only serve high-risk search warrants a few times each year, but Tuesday’s was one.

“Over the course of a year, a handful of those are high risk, where we believe the suspect may take action against either themselves, someone else, or an officer,” said Sergeant Shane Tuell.  “This was a good search warrant service for what we intended to find, but the result of us getting here and shots being fired was an extremely unfortunate and sad event.”

Several neighbors believed the house was a hub for drug activity and said Mullins was often outside arguing.

“The state of mind of a person who would see a tank in their front yard and the SWAT team and then take a shot at a police officer, it tells you the state of mind he was in. It wasn’t right,” said Jerry Rollins.

Mullins’ history includes felony arrests dating back to 1999, including burglary, domestic assault, drugs, and firearms offenses.  Police say officers were at the home in June serving a warrant and couldn't get anyone out of the house until they used pepper balls.

Police say extra precautions were taken for Tuesday’s warrant because they expected Mullins was armed and ready for a fight.

“We knew it was going to be difficult,” said Tuell.  “We never want this kind of result, but we knew it would be difficult and S.O.T. was definitely used this time.”

Now, police are working two investigations – the original case of drugs and guns and, now, a homicide investigation of the shooting.

Police say no officers were hurt in the encounter.

They say a woman and two children were present but were not hurt.  Police said the children were out of the home before Mullins came out shooting.

The woman, identified as Heather Brazeal, was arrested on complaints of manufacturing meth and possession of a firearm after a felony conviction.