One Dead, Another Victim In Tulsa Hospital Following Boynton Shooting

NewsOn6.com

BOYNTON, Oklahoma -- The Muskogee County Sheriff's Office says a man is dead and another is in a Tulsa hospital with a gunshot wound following a shooting Monday morning in the county.

Deputies were called to a home in Boynton shortly after 6 a.m. where they found 20-year-old Wayne Lawler dead and 22-year-old Josh Penn wounded.

In Boynton, a town where everybody knows everybody, word spread fast.

"Things like this can happen to anybody. I hear about it in Tulsa all the time, people getting shot and killed everyday, but it's just crazy," said Rod Jackson, Boynton Resident

A medical helicopter flew Penn to a Tulsa hospital. There is no word on his condition.

"They're human beings! What else can you do but love people," said Boynton resident Lucile Lang.

Both men are Lucile Lang's Foster grandchildren.

"People don't care no more for souls than they do a dog.  People care more for dogs and animals than they do for human beings," she said.

Lang says the victims had been threatened in the past and that she's lobbied for better law enforcement in Boynton for some time.

Boynton doesn't have a police force, and relies on the sheriff's office.

"We call them, we can't get nothing done out of them," Lang said.

Investigators say they've found evidence in the shootings and are working to find more. They hope to talk to Penn if his condition improves.

"Hopefully he can give us a motive or give us some of an idea on where to go in this thing," said Muskogee County Sheriff Bert Poole.

While investigators pursue leads, people in Boynton, many of whom gathered at the crime scene are shocked, upset and most of all left struggling with why.

"It's happening for no reason at all, just because of hate. Just because of hate," Lang said.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is urged to call the Muskogee County Sheriff's Office at 918-684-1641.