Suspect shot dead by police in Lighthorse after domestic violence incident

TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — A suspect in a domestic violence case is dead after a nearly four-hour standoff with Lighthorse police and the Tulsa Police Department (TPD).

Tulsa police responded to Somerset Park at the Union Apartments around 1:40 a.m. Thursday to a call that initially appeared to be a domestic violence case, but the incident quickly escalated.

The crime scene was still swarming with police officers collecting evidence and piecing together the pieces of the incident.

According to the Muscogee Creek Nation Lighthorse Police Department, the TPD responded to a domestic violence incident around 1:40 a.m.

A neighbor called police after a woman and her two-year-old child escaped a domestic assault by the male suspect.

When the neighbor intervened, the suspect pulled out a gun and pointed it at the neighbor, according to police.

The neighbor then called the police, but because of his status as a local, the police reported the incident to the Lighthorse Police Department, who arrived just minutes later at around 1:50 a.m.

Mother and child were taken away from the crime scene for medical treatment, while the suspect had barricaded himself in an apartment on the second floor.

While Lighthorse waited for a search warrant to enter the apartment, it deployed its SWAT team and attempted to persuade the suspect to come out voluntarily before intervening.

They surrounded the area and called for the suspect. They even tried calling him on their cell phone, but at 4:44 a.m. the suspect still refused to come out.

By this time, the arrest warrant had already been signed and officers were considering alternative measures.

Before the officers stormed the building, they evacuated the neighboring apartments.

At 5:30 a.m., a response team broke through the window to send in a drone to inspect the crime scene and speak to the suspect via drone, but this was also unsuccessful.

After exhausting all options, a member of the strike team climbed a ladder to break the window of the 2nd floor apartment and use a non-lethal gas device to force the suspect out of the apartment. However, as the officer pulled back the blinds, the suspect approached the officers with his weapon drawn.

Gunfire was exchanged between the suspect and the officers. During the exchange of fire, one officer was hit in the shoulder and another fell from the ladder to the ground.

Both officers suffered minor abrasions and injuries.

They were taken to St. Francis for treatment and are expected to make a full recovery.

The suspect was hit several times by the officers.

The team was then given the green light to conduct a medical examination, but the suspect was pronounced dead on arrival.

Lighthorse Police said that despite the unfortunate death, all protocols were followed.

This is an ongoing investigation.