NSU Football Player Shot At Tahlequah Nightclub

Tahlequah Police say a Northeastern State University football player is recovering after being shot early Friday.

Police Chief Nate King says a fight at a nightclub at 100 East Downing Street attracted dozens of people and ended in gunshots and a stabbing. He says two people were shot and one was stabbed.

King says one of the shooting victims was an NSU football player. 

The police chief said officers originally arrested two people, 30-year-old Damon Glass, AKA, Damon Shade, for accessory to assault with a deadly weapon, and 23-year-old Robbie Foreman for two counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm while intoxicated.

Friday night, however, the chief said Foreman confessed to the stabbing and shooting. He also said Glass was no longer in custody.

There's a quaintness about downtown Tahlequah, with its many storefronts offering unique shopping.

"It's a beautiful place to be,” David Millican said.

Millican runs Dos XX Okies Emporium along the main street, and it is one of the many shops helping to bring business in. From his gallery window, he can see the club on the corner that became a crime scene early Friday morning.

“Bad things do seem to happen, but it's very rare in this area,” Millican said.

Chief Nate King says he doesn't know what started the fight but says the victims were trying to make the situation better.

“They were trying to get people out of the fight and out of the area,”  King said. “They were trying to break the fight up.”

The chief says NSU football player Jason Hand was shot in the torso, Sallisaw resident Tyren Samuels was shot below his waist, and Tahlequah resident Meleke Hodge was stabbed five times.

King says all three are out of the hospital and going to be OK, and it's a miracle things weren't worse.       

“These guns were brandished and discharged in a group of 150 people, we're lucky we don't have mass casualties in this,” King said.

The chief says the men responsible ran six blocks from police before being caught. The men are still being questioned, but King says they drove in from Sallisaw and are not college students.

King says they recovered one gun and a bloody knife, but he believes another shooter and gun are out there.

“We need to recover the gun and identify the second shooter,” King said.

The chief also is asking for any cell phone video that may have recorded the fight.     

“Witnesses are saying at least two dozen were videoing this fight with cell phones and we don't have one video that's come forward yet from people,” he said.

King says the video is vital and can be turned in anonymously. Business owners hope the case is solved soon so things can get back to normal.

“This is a nice, little town, there's a lot of good people around here,” Millican said.

The chief says he has talked with the club owner and the two plan to get together to go over what can be done to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.