Warning: Video of the incident is available in the video above by rewinding to the -1:48:00 mark. Due to the shocking nature of the incident, viewer discretion is strongly advised.
A high-speed chase through Oklahoma City ended with police officers shooting the murder suspect being pursued, and it all happened live on the air. The news broadcast quickly cut away from the scene after it became clear that a graphic event had unfolded.
Local NBC affiliate KFOR-TV was following the chase in Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon.
According to the outlet’s helicopter pilot, Mason Dunn, the man was a “shooting suspect that fleed [sic] from a shooting call,” and footage of the pursuit began just after the suspect ducked into a neighborhood near the city-owned Wiley Post Airport.
“We believe this is a shooting suspect,” interjected on-air anchor Kevin Ogle, “There have been some earlier reports it could be some kind of domestic shooting issue, but we’re still firming that up right now…but we do know that police laid some stop sticks.”
After a chase that had previously reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, the suspect appeared to slow down considerably–either due to the residential nature of the subdivision or because of the police department’s use of those aforementioned sticks.
“Just following this chase–we do believe it’s about to come to some sort of an end–pulling into some kind of a cul-de-sac here,” Ogle notes, as the police decline to cage the driver with their own cars and block his path on the dead-end residential street.
“We are continuing westbound here in this neighborhood,” Dunn notes as the driver leads police on further and further.
The vehicle repeatedly stops and starts and Oklahoma City cops follow closely behind as the anchors periodically remind their viewers that the pursued car is being driven by a shooting suspect–which appears to explain the cautious and slow-burn nature of the chase.
After several minutes worth of back-and-forth driving and three-point-turns through various four-lane highways and winding residential streets, the suspect’s car eventually makes visible contact with a stop stick on the front passenger side.
The car then slows and speeds up again before turning into a parking lot, jumping a curb and attempting to exit through yet another cul-de-sac. But this time, the driver is boxed in by police.
Slowing down, the driver opens the driver-side door and attempts to jump out of his slow-moving vehicle.
Almost instantaneously, however, the man is peppered with gunfire from multiple angles. His body pivots and convulses unnaturally–being whipped back-and-forth by the competing volleys of bullets. Finally, the man collapses on the grass near a light pole.
According to the Oklahoma City Police Department, the suspect had a gun in his hand. At the time of this writing, the suspect’s condition is not known.
[image via screengrab/KFOR]
