Shooting Leaves Two Dead, One In Critical Condition

Sunday, July 22nd 2007, 3:36 pm

By: News On 6

A northside Tulsa neighborhood is rattled after two kids are killed and a third is fighting for her life. The three were shot near Tecumseh and Lewis. For many of these kids, they just lost a cousin, a neighbor, or a classmate. The News On 6â€™s Joshua Brakhage reports they say they're praying the gunshots have stopped.

The noise woke up a neighborhood. Tulsa Police say a gunman fired into a blue Dodge Durango, hitting a 16-year-old boy and two 12-year-old girls several times. The boy and one girl didn't survive. The third was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

Detectives scoured the area. Even the city's top cop, interim chief David Bostrom, was there. The more officers who arrived, the more questions they had and more motives they ruled out.

"No drugs, no gang. Just simple. Some type of fight between people that escalated to the shooting where we have two people that have died," said Tulsa Police Cpl Dan Miller.

Investigators used flashlights to comb through the grass. Search the same grass in the daylight, and you'd find flowers, a teddy bear, and the picture of a girl taken from her friends all too soon.

They say 12-year-old Leah Fuqua would've gone to seventh grade in the fall. Instead, neighbors and cousins now know the potential for violence, and that the danger is real, even for a middle schooler. Eleven-year-old Kennedy lights a candle in Fuquaâ€™s memory, every flicker to remind them of a life.

Police say they're still looking for 31-year-old Josh Muller. He's white, 5-foot-11, and 165 pounds. He was last spotted wearing a red shirt and brown Adidas shoes. Detectives believe he's driving a 1998 red Dodge Ram pickup truck with the license plate 569 CAU.

It may be a little tougher to catch up with Muller. Police say he has connections on the other end of the state and could be on his way to Lawton to try to lay low.

If you have a tip that can help police, call Crimestoppers at 596-COPS. You don't even have to give your name; they just want all the help they can get.

Watch the video: Two Killed, One Critically Injured In Shooting