TAFT – Witnesses on Sunday described a chaotic scene in which a large number of shots were fired during a Memorial Day garden gathering in the small Muskogee County community of Taft, leaving one dead and seven injured.
Meanwhile, authorities said a suspect, Skylar Dewayne Buckner, has turned himself in in connection with the shooting.
“Bullets were literally flying everywhere,” said Jasmayne Hill, who worked a food truck during the event, where an estimated 1,500 people gathered for an annual Memorial Day weekend celebration in the middle of the small town, about 10 miles west of Muskogee.
Shots began ringing out shortly after midnight on Sunday, witnesses said.
Hill said she and Kountry Queens food truck owner Tiffany Walton dropped to the ground inside the food truck, trying to hide from the flying bullets.
“We think we’re safe and bullets are like going through the bottom of a food truck,” Hill said. “They didn’t hit us, thank God.”
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At least one large bullet hole could be seen on the outside of the truck, not far from where the truck’s propane tank was located, Walton said.
One woman was killed and seven others were injured in the shooting, including a minor, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Sunday.
The names of the people killed and injured were not released on Sunday.
But witnesses at the scene on Sunday said the woman who died died after reportedly being hit in the head.
Witnesses said several of the injured were hit in the legs and did not appear to have life-threatening injuries.
The eight who were injured in the shooting were taken to a hospital in Muskogee and three patients were later taken to a hospital in Tulsa for treatment, OSBI said.
The woman who died was 39 years old, the OSBI said.
The other seven injured are between 9 and 56 years old.
All are said to have injuries that are not life-threatening, OSBI said.
The agency also clarified that only one minor, not two as previously reported, was injured in the shooting.
Hill said the shooting began with an initial “pop” that sounded like fireworks.
But then he said that a much louder high caliber weapon could be heard firing rapidly, as if it were some kind of automatic weapon.
“It was like something out of a movie,” Hill said.
“(It lasted) a long time,” Walton said.
The Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office attended the event and immediately provided assistance to the victims, OSBI said.
The man who turned himself in, Buckner, was being processed and was to be booked into the Muskogee County Jail on undetermined complaints, Muskogee County District Attorney Larry Edwards said.
OSBI said Buckner turned himself in at the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office at 4:05 p.m.
Edwards could not immediately provide Buckner’s hometown.
He also declined to say if there were any other suspects in the case or if any other arrests were pending, citing the ongoing investigation.
However, he said shell casings from four different caliber pistols were found at the scene of the shooting.
By late Sunday morning, police had cleared the scene and only the owners and employees of two food trucks remained in the area, along with a few bystanders.
Authorities also removed crime scene tape from the area, along with markings of where shell casings were found.
Witnesses said there were at least 40 marked spots where shell casings were found, throughout the area.
Neicy Bates and her husband, Triirmain Bates, were operating the Fat Fries food truck when the shooting occurred.
“Most people were just throwing themselves on the ground trying to get out of the way,” Neicy Bates said. “I ran out (of the food truck) because I have children and they were here.
“People just screamed. Some tried to escape. There were cars coming out, trying not to hit each other.”
Taft resident Walton said that for decades the city has held a multi-day Memorial Day festival that typically lasts from Friday through Sunday with a parade on Monday.
She said not only do most of the 220 residents attend, but also many people from all over the country.
“We are a small community. The whole world is based on family,” she said. “This did not come from our community. This came from people outside of our community.”
All remaining Memorial Day activities have been canceled in the city, including Monday’s parade.
Neicy Bates said her grandmother, Lelia Foley, who became the first black female mayor in US history when she was elected mayor of Taft in 1973, continued to host the annual Memorial Day events.
The former mayor was up most of the night after the shooting, talking to residents and assisting authorities, Bates said.
“She’s devastated.”
Walton said Saturday night was his first night on the business with his food truck.
“And this had to happen,” he said. In addition to food trucks, the outdoor event also featured a live DJ, residents said.
Taft, founded around 1902, is one of 13 predominantly black towns still in existence in Oklahoma. The state was once home to more than 50, more than any other state.
Originally named Twine, the town was renamed Taft in 1905 in honor of William Howard Taft, the statesman who would soon become president.
Governor Kevin Stitt issued a statement on Sunday about social networkssaying, “I am grateful for (OSBI’s) quick response in assisting local law enforcement and I am confident in the ability of Oklahoma law enforcement to bring justice to whoever is responsible for this deadly incident.”
Anyone at the event who witnessed the shooting is asked to contact OSBI at 1-800-522-8017 or email [email protected].
Reference-tulsaworld.com