Fight Over Sunglasses Leads To Death Of Muskogee Man

A Sunday night family get-together ended with a shooting that left one man dead and another in police custody.

A group of relatives was at a house on the northwest side of Muskogee when an argument over a pair of sunglasses ended with one man shot to death.

The shooting happened at about 6:45 p.m. during a family gathering at a home in the 2000 block of Oklahoma.

Muskogee police say after an argument over a pair of sunglasses, the victim, 53-year-old Marcus Moore, asked one of the men to leave.

Officers said Kenneth Smith left but returned shortly with a shotgun.

"Got into more of a little verbal altercation with Mr. Moore, and shot Mr. Moore one time in the chest, killing him," said Muskogee Police Officer Lincoln Anderson.

Later that night, Muskogee Police and members of the FBI Violent Crimes Task Force arrested Smith on a first-degree murder count.

Officers also recovered a 12-gauge shotgun.

Anderson said, "It was really a team effort to have a homicide occur and have the suspect in custody in less than six hours."

Marilyn Taylor lives in the neighborhood and said she's thankful investigators made a quick arrest.

"I'm glad that they caught him. It would have made the children kind of nervous to know he was still loose, just a real sad situation," she said.

Taylor said the victim was a good neighbor and a good person.

She said, "Every morning when I'd go to work, he'd say good morning. He was always very cheerful and he'd tell me to have a good day."

Taylor said she'll pray for Moore's family and the community.

This is Muskogee's first homicide of 2015.

Muskogee Police searched several homes for Smith but said he was found lying on the ground in another area away from where the shooting took place.