Tulsa Shooting Spree Suspect Says Killings Weren't About Race - East Idaho News
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Tulsa Shooting Spree Suspect Says Killings Weren’t About Race

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N 040912 TulsaSuspect122?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1334435589013Tulsa Police Department (NEW YORK) — One of two white Oklahoma men accused of hate crimes in a shooting spree that left three black people dead in Tulsa says in a jailhouse interview that race had nothing to do with the shootings.

Jake England’s attorney Clark Brewster, released a seven-minute tape of the interview with his client today, in which the 19-year-old says he has friends who are black. The video was posted by Tulsa TV station KOTV.

“The line of work that I was in and the place I worked, we always got along with everybody,” England says in the video. “It didn’t matter what color you were.”

England and Alvin Watts, 32, have reportedly confessed to carrying out the rampage on April 6 that left three people dead and two others seriously wounded.

The two men were charged Friday with three counts each of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting with intent to kill and five counts of malicious intimidation or harassment.

In the video posted by KOTV, England seems stoic, but his deep voice seems to catch when the lawyer asks him about the violent deaths of his father and girlfriend.

Staring hard into the camera, England describes how his father was killed trying to defend his sister and her two young children from a man trying to break into their home.

He also discusses how his girlfriend, with whom he had a young son, shot herself in the head in front of him and the toddler in January.

Police have said their investigation of the killings included England’s racially charged Facebook postings.

The shootings occurred nearly two years to the day after a black man shot England’s father, Carl England, to death on April 5, 2010, according to a post from his Facebook. Authorities believe Watts was a friend of England’s father.

On April 5 at 4:04 p.m., England wrote, “Today is two years that my dad has been gone shot by a f—— n—– it’s hard not to go off between that and sheran I’m gone in the head.”

In the interview with his lawyer, England said that statement was directed at the man who killed his father, and not at black people in general.

“It was just to express the way I was upset about the guy who shot my dad,” England said. “That’s the only time I ever express anything like that about somebody.”

According to England’s Facebook page, his girlfriend, Sheran Hart Wilde, recently died.

The five victims were shot early April 6 in four separate incidents during a span of less than two hours on the same side of town and not far from one another, police said.

Police identified the deceased victims as Bobby Clark, 54, and William Allen, 31, and Dannaer Fields, 49, the only woman among the victims. There was no connection between the suspects and victims, police said at a news conference on April 8.

Two males were critically wounded in the shooting spree. All of the victims were targeted while they were out walking, and apparently did not know each other.

“We have not been able to find any commonality between the victims other than they were walking on the street,” Sgt. Dave Walker of the Tulsa Police Department said.

On the night of April 6, England posted on Facebook, “Chilling at that house people talking s— on me for some s— I didn’t do … it just mite be the time to call it quits I I hate to say it like that but I’m done if something does happen tonite be ready for another funeral later.”

A series of tips led to the arrests of both men at a house north of Tulsa around 2 a.m. on April 8.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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