Two Shot, Killed During Saturday Night Tulsa Home Invasion

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A north Tulsa neighborhood is now a crime scene after gunmen shoot and kill two men in what police are calling a brutal home invasion.

Tulsa Police say the suspects are still on the loose.

Police officers were called to the scene at about 10:20 p.m. Saturday with a report of shots fired after an armed group of people invaded a home at 67 North Victor Avenue.

Police tell The News On 6 the two victims were forced to lie on the floor before being killed. The gruesome details have neighbors there on edge. Even homicide detectives say they're stunned.

“It’s brutal. The way that it was carried out, was in a brutal fashion and you typically don't see it done like that very often,” Detective Vic Regalado, Tulsa Police, said in reference to the way the two young men in their 20s were gunned down.

Two suspects repeatedly banged on the front door. When no one opened up, they kicked it in. Police say they made the victims lie on the living room floor, and then one of the suspects shot each of the men multiple times.

“It was so close. It was too close for comfort,” said Tahnee Burr, a neighbor who was watching TV in her bedroom, and called 911 when the shots rang out.

“It was the first one, then they paused, they waited, not too long. And then actually, it was three more, just like pow, pow, pow,” said Burr.

Three men and one woman were in the house, but police say the woman was the only one who lived there.

Officers say she was forced to lie in a separate room, guarded by one suspect, while the other suspect shot the victims.

Detectives say it’s too early to know for sure what happened, but think it might be drug-related.

“Just again, the way that it was done, makes it a unique kind of case so far,” said Detective Regalado.

Burr says she has had problems with her neighbors in the past.

“Rowdy, loud, yelling, screaming, doors slamming, car alarms going off, you name it, all hours of the night,” said Burr.

But Burr never thought violence like this would hit so close to home. Burr says she has never heard gunfire in the neighborhood and at first even thought the shots were from firecrackers. Now she's worried about the safety of her children.

There was a fourth person in the house at the time, but police say he ran away after the shooting. Officers say Justin Bryant was present during the shooting and fled the scene.

Bryant is believed to be from the Modesto, California area, but may still be in the Tulsa area. Detectives list Bryant as a person of interest in this homicide and need help finding him.

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-COPS.