LAWTON, Okla_Two young men
who were trying to jump start their car were shot at in broad daylight over the
weekend. They were not hit, but residents in the neighborhood on Lawton's northwest side
are outraged and say the area is plagued by crime. Police say it happened
around 4:30 Saturday in the 4700 block of Northwest Motif Manor. They say a
black man jumped out of a van and fired several shots at the two young men who
were working on their car.
Police do not
yet have any suspects in the shooting, they say it is still early in the
investigation and right now it's unclear whether it was random or gang related.
Residents said this is not a shock. One woman, who did not want to be
identified, said she is fed up with the violence.
"It is
scary, it is very scary. They have too much stuff going on. I am going back to
the gun thing. I don't think its right for them to walk around with guns in
their hand. That's just a legal way to kill people. It's not right. Innocent
bystanders can get shot and killed."
According to the
police report, once the shots were fired the kids who were shot at ran west to
try and get to safety. It says the shooter ran in the opposite direction.
Residents say they are tired of living in fear over these shootings.
Lawton Police Lieutenant
Jim Johnson said shootings in areas high in crime can sometimes be difficult to
piece together, but the department is investigating the shooting.
"A lot of
times these things happen so fast that there's not a lot of information. We
start getting shootings like this in areas like that and we start concentrating
on the area. So, we will do what we can to try and solve it."
Residents who
have to live here say it will take an entire community to help stop this
terrifying cycle of violence.
"It's sad
that the young kids today don't have what I had when I was coming up. You're
taught respect, morals, right from wrong, how to respect people. It's sad they
don't have that and when they don't have that this is the outcome of it."
Lawton police say
they found ten bullet casings in the area of the shooting. They say the suspect
is a black man, who was wearing an orange jersey and had corn rows in his hair.
