Three Shot During Argument

Three people are recovering on Saturday morning from gunshot wounds after an argument in Wagoner County.

Saturday, March 29th 2008, 8:45 am

By: News On 6


A teenager in a coma is at the center of a triple shooting in Catoosa.  Police say another teen and his father were shot by the comatose teen's step-father, who claims his son was being bullied. 

The News On 6's Dan Bewley reports this is a confusing case at best. But it involves two men and two teenagers.

One of the teens survived a crash that killed three people just two weeks ago.  The other teen is said to have bullied the survivor, both before the crash and since he's been lying in a hospital bed.

Three people were shot in Catoosa early Saturday morning. Two men, Stephen Eaton and Dwayne Dennis along with Dennis' 17-year old son.

"The last couple of weeks they've had a neighborhood feud going on and it's escalated from there," said Catoosa Police Lt. John Mines.

A feud, police say, that centers on 17-year old Justin Wylie.

Natalie Wylie, another friend, and a 70-year-old Broken Arrow man died in a car crash near the Port of Catoosa two-and-a-half weeks ago.

Police say the teens in the house where the shooting took place had been picking on Wylie before the crash, at one point they allegedly beat him up.

Several neighbors were afraid to talk, but one man who didn't want us to show his face, says the teens who live in the house have been terrorizing the neighborhood.

"If they don't like the way someone looks they'll knock them down, they'll beat them up. They'll stand up to grown-up, they don't care," said the neighbor.

Police say the bullying of Justin Wylie continued after he went into a coma. The anonymous neighbor says he's heard that as well.

"They were running their mouth about how they wished he would have died," said the neighbor.

The neighbor was asked if he heard them say that.

"My daughter did," the neighbor responded.

At one point, investigators say, the teens claimed they would finish the job once Wylie came out of the coma.

Stephen Eaton is Wylie's step-father. He spoke with the News On 6 days after the crash.

"And it's just been horrible, tragedy, tragedy," said Eaton.

Eaton, police say, came to the house Saturday morning, shot the 17-year-old in the arm and then got into a shootout with his father, Dwayne Dennis, while the two were sitting in Eaton's van.

One of the bullets ricocheted off a neighbor's car and went into his garage.

Residents say they've had enough and hope this violence is the last.

"We've all got kids, we've all got kids and we're all scared for our kids," said the neighbor.

Police say they won't be able to ask for charges until the victims are well enough to be interviewed.  But they do say it's likely that Eaton could be charged with shooting with intent to kill, as of right now, they believe Dennis was acting in self-defense.

Find more stories on NewsOn6.com's Local News page.

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