Turner Turnpike Shooting Leaves Two Injured

STROUD, Oklahoma -- The OSBI is also handling the investigation into a drive by shooting that injured two men.

Their car was riddled with more than a dozen bullets as they drove down the Turner Turnpike from Tulsa to Oklahoma City.

The wounded men are Donald Maurice Walters, 31, and Lorell A. Battle, 29. The two men were shot at about 10:30 p.m. near Stroud. 

Drive-by shootings are often shocking. But one on the Turner Turnpike, a highway that so many people travel down, it's even more unnerving.

"That's scary. It's the last thing you would expect on the turnpike," said Bill Gooden, Duncan resident.

Drivers like Bill Gooden, especially those who travel often on the turnpike, are shocked.

Lincoln County Sheriff's deputies say one of the victims called 911 to say someone in another car had opened fire on them. When officers arrived, they found an orange pickup riddled with bullet holes.

The truck, which was headed from Tulsa to Oklahoma City, had been shot at least 14 times with what authorities say were .40 caliber bullets. Witnesses say a white car pulled up next to the truck and opened fire.

"It's a scary thought that there are people out there that have no regard for human life, and that's evidently what it is," Duncan said.

"I think it is pretty sad that we're in that day and time now and that we have to turn our head and look behind our shoulder to see what is going to happen behind us," said Tulsa resident Joseph Whalen.

The two victims stopped the pickup by the center median and got out. The shooters turned around and drove on the eastbound lanes, firing at the victims as they drove by again.

"We're finding shell casings and what have you," said Lincoln County Sheriff Charlie Dougherty, indicating a 100-yard stretch of highway where investigators collected evidence.

The victims were transported to Cushing Hospital. One man was shot in the torso and one in the leg.

While the OSBI works to investigate a motive and potential suspects, drivers are left stunned, yet thankful as bad as the drive by shooting was, no one else was hurt.

"Who knows, it could have been me and my family passing by," Whalen said.

The westbound lanes of Turner Turnpike near mile marker 174 were shut down for about five hours as investigators worked the scene.