Investigators inspect a ute with bullet holes in its windshield in Hugo, Oklahoma. Photo / AP
Investigators inspect a ute with bullet holes in its windshield in Hugo, Oklahoma. Photo / AP
Law enforcement officials have released little information about a police shooting yesterday in a southeast Oklahoma town, declining to provide answers to what led officers to shoot at a robbery suspect in a ute - injuring him and three of the four children inside.
Agents with the Oklahoma State Bureauof Investigation say they are still interviewing witnesses to the shooting, which occurred near a residential home in Hugo, a town of 5000 people.
Hugo police detectives had been looking for William Devaughn Smith, a 21-year-old suspect in an April 11 robbery at a local Pizza Hut. The detectives were "attempting to make contact" with Smith at a community food centre when "shots were fired," state authorities said in a news release.
Smith, a woman, and four unidentified children, were in a green ute when the shooting broke out. Smith was injured, as were three of the children. Authorities have not released the names of the injured children, but OSBI spokesperson Brook Arbeitman said they were aged 5, 3 and 1 and sustained "non-life threatening injuries."
Olivia Hill identified herself as the woman in the ute in an interview with local TV station KXII. Hill is the mother of the four children, she told the station.
"My 4-year-old daughter was shot in the head, and she has a bullet in her brain," Hill said through tears as she prepared to visit her injured kids at a children's hospital in Tulsa.
"My 5-year-old has a skull fracture. My 1-year-old baby has gunshot wounds on her face, and my 2-year-old wasn't touched with any bullets."
"I mean my children, for crying out loud," Hill said. "Four innocent little children."
Two Hugo detectives were involved in the altercation, authorities said. Both have been placed on administrative leave. The OSBI has not released the names of the officers involved or how many shots were fired.
Arbeitman did not disclose whether Smith or others in the ute had a gun, or if the gunfire was one-sided. She said the nature of the shooting - including the events that led to the gunfire - remain under investigation.
"We are still working to determine through our investigation exactly what happened between the officers making contact with him and a shooting ensuing," Arbeitman said.
But according to reporting from KXII, Hugo police officials said that two officers were trying to approach Smith when he allegedly backed up the ute and hit one of the officers, causing minor injury. Another officer was nearly hit, KXII reported, and began firing his weapon because he feared for his safety.
Arbeitman said that Smith was taken to a hospital in Paris, Texas, and treated for his injuries. He was released into police custody and faces a charge of aggravated robbery.
The April 11 robbery took place at a Pizza Hut in Hugo. A man wearing black clothing entered the rear entrance to the restaurant and pressed an object into the back of an employee, police said. The man demanded money then fled.
