Facebook Photos Help Police Track Down Suspect In OKC Murder

Court papers reveal how Facebook photos helped police track down a recent murder suspect. They also reveal how a Facebook comment may have lead up to the murder.

All those details are laid out in this search warrant filed on Tuesday. Right now, we know the accused gunman, Antwion Martin, 20, is being held here in the Oklahoma County jail without bond. He is charged with first degree murder. And a man who survived the shooting was able to identify him thanks to a picture posted on Facebook.

7/22/2013 Related Story: Man Arrested For Fatal Shooting At NW OKC Apartments

The deadly shooting occurred on July 17 at the Rockwell Terrace Apartments near Rockwell and Melrose Lane. When police arrived they found Edmond Tyree, 48, dead in the breezeway. His friend Michael Hale, 47, survived a gunshot wound to the arm and chest, but now has a bullet lodged in his spine.

In a phone interview, Hale says at one point, Martin had the gun pointed at his face, and that doctors told him he's lucky he wasn't paralyzed.

Hale confirms it was while he was in the hospital that he was able to positively identify Atwion Martin from a Facebook photo he had posted with his girlfriend.

He says Tyree had recently set up his own Facebook page and friended Martin's girlfriend. Hale says Tyree had met Martin's girlfriend at a party and that the two knew each other intimately.

The search warrant states Martin admitted to police he had a dispute with Tyree for a comment he had posted on this picture of Martin's girlfriend in a bathing suit. And it was most likely that comment that led to Martin to track down Tyree at the apartment complex where he lived.

The search warrant states police did seize Martin's cell phone as evidence. Hale says they also took steps to preserve the Facebook pages, too.