Preacher's Wife Injured In Tulsa Gunfire

By Joshua Brakhage, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- A shooting in broad daylight happened on Tuesday afternoon on Tulsa's north side. Tulsa Police used a search warrant to raid a home in the 2200 block of North Cincinnati and found several guns.

"This been a nice quiet neighborhood," said Rev. James W. Smith, Sr., whose wife was hit.  "But you can see that it's gettin' ready to rise up again."

Tulsa Police say the preacher's wife was an innocent victim and not the shooters' target when she was sitting in her home in the 2000 block of North Boston.

"Everything just went just crazy," said Rev. James W. Smith, Sr.  "She was sitting there just watching TV and, you know, when all of a sudden all of this happened.  It sounded like an explosion going off. It was so loud, it hurt my ears."

Rev. Smith says he was roused from an afternoon nap when an unwelcome visitor crashed through his window.

"I jumped up and I heard her holler, 'felt like something exploded in my head!' And, that's when I ran in and the blood was running down her face," said Rev. James W. Smith, Sr.

Mrs. Smith was hit with broken glass and bullet fragments, but she's expected to be released from the hospital soon.

Tulsa Police tracked the bullet's path.  It was fired a block and a half away. 

Rev. Smith can trace the trajectory, too.  The shrapnel ripped through his drapes, nicked a plant, and is still embedded in his wall.

Two teenagers went to jail for the shooting.  It is a sad reality for this minister, already on a crusade against gang violence.

"This doesn't deter my faith. The only thing it do is just give me something to push forward to and trying to save our kids," said Rev. James W. Smith, Sr.  "I hear 'em say, 'I'll die for my homie.' They need to try to live for their homie."