Tulsa Restaurant Patrons Step Over Shooting Victim To Reach Pick-up Window

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Tulsa Police say out of numerous potential witnesses, only one person had any information to offer in a shooting overnight Sunday at the Chicken Hut restaurant, 1500 E. Apache.

The shooting victim, 27-year-old Valentino Verner, later died of his wounds at a Tulsa hospital.

Restaurant patrons even shoved past emergency workers, stepping over the victim to get their food.

Tulsa Police, firefighters and ambulance personnel responded to a call of shots fired at the restaurant at about 3 a.m.

They say when they arrived at the Chicken Hut, they found Verner lying on the ground in front of the restaurant's pick-up window.

He had been shot multiple times, according to Tulsa Police Sergeant Mike Eckert.

They had a difficult time getting through the crowd to provide aid to the victim, and no one was trying to help the injured man, Eckert said. People were instead stepping over Verner to get to their food orders.

Eckert said customers even shoved past emergency personnel as they went to the take out window.

After questioning the crowd, they found only one person – a relative of the victim - who had any information about the shooting. That man could only say the suspect was a man in a blue jacket with a hood.

"Exactly one person chose to call 911 to advise us of the shooting," Eckert said. He added that there were more than 100 people in the parking lot when emergency personnel arrived.

"Nobody wants to talk to us. No one wants to give us any information," he said.

Police are investigating the shooting. Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS.

 Make an online crime tip to Tulsa Police.