Tulsa Man Sent To Hospital After Shooting

Tulsa police are investigating a shooting that happened in a hotel parking lot Monday afternoon near 71st and Mingo.

Police say the victim was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

They say it’s been difficult to figure out what led up to the shooting.

Officers say the victim was found in a car in the Candlewood Suites parking lot with a gunshot wound, but they don't know how long he had been there before he was found.

Police are checking out surveillance video and speaking with family members to see if they can determine a motive, but they say it’s been difficult to piece together what happened and they are struggling to find witnesses.

“I just heard a bang, like plywood was dropped over there at Home Depot, and then woke up from a nap, went to see if it was still snowing outside, and seen all these police out here,” said area resident Taylor Gipson.

Gipson says she heard that noise at around 10:30 a.m. but says she “just kind of put it off because there’s things going out of Home Depot all the time.”

Police say they got to the scene around 1:00 p.m., after a man who was taking out trash saw the victim in the car and called 911.

Officers say they thought at first it might have been a suicide, but then they found a bullet hole in the center of the windshield and a shell casing near the car.

“It appears it was not self-inflicted at this time, but we are still doing that investigation and looking into that,” said Sergeant Clay Ballenger.

Officers say they searched the car for anything suspicious that could give them a lead on where to start.  They are also speaking with family members and reviewing surveillance video from nearby businesses because, even though it happened near a busy intersection, there weren’t a lot of witnesses.

“There’s not a whole lot of foot traffic in this area,” said Ballenger, “but there may be some witnesses that we are going to talk to that may have seen or heard something.”

If you know anything about this incident, call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.