Family Mourns Loss Of Tulsa's Latest Homicide Victim

Police are investigating Tulsa’s 73rd homicide of 2017.

Police say it happened just before 1 Sunday morning in the 4200 block of North Frankfort.

Police are calling the shooting an "ambush", saying the shooter hid in the bushes across the street from the home.  Now, the family of Byron Roland is picking up the pieces once again.

"No sleep. Sad. Crying all day, can't stop crying," said the victim’s cousin Sheliece Williams. 

Byron Roland's family is once again trying to heal, now that he's become the second shooting victim in their family this year.

Sheliece Williams said they just buried their cousin Chantal Mack in July.  Now, they're preparing for yet another funeral.

"We was very close cousins," Williams said. 

Byron Roland, 27, was shot early Sunday morning at a friend's house in North Tulsa.

"When I got here, his body was on the ground and I just started breaking down," Williams said.     

She wants people to know her cousin was a "good boy."

"He always made people laugh, smile. Always wanted to come around you, be around you, lift you up and stuff like that," Williams said. 

She said she knows that bullet wasn't meant for him.  Williams believes her cousin was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Somebody was laying in wait, or hiding in the bushes," said Sergeant Dave Walker with Tulsa Police. 

"As our victim was walking up to the house, the homeowner was coming out to hand him something and then shots rang out from across the street."  

Sgt. Walker said there's no reason to believe Roland was a gang member, but that the shooting has gang undertones. He said there was another shooting just a few blocks away from this one earlier in the night.

"When you start seeing a spattering of shootings with no rhyme or reason, there usually is a reason. And that's usually kind of the earmark of a gang shooting. So, something's going on," said Walker. 

Regardless of what that "something" is,  Williams said coping with this type of loss is just something they have to deal with.

"I just want to go to sleep and wake up and hope it's all a dream. Which I know it's not going to be. It's sad. That's why we're sad today. Because it's not a dream, it's real life," Williams said. 

Sergeant Walker said finding the shooter will be a community effort since they don't have much to go on at this point.

If you, have any information, call 596-COPS.