Arrest made in Tulsa BB vandalism case

Tulsa Police make an arrest in the BB gun vandal case. Officers credit the arrest to a Tulsa business owner's grit and determination. <br><br>News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says Linda

Thursday, January 30th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police make an arrest in the BB gun vandal case. Officers credit the arrest to a Tulsa business owner's grit and determination.

News on Six crime reporter Lori Fullbright says Linda Snow, the owner of Snow's furniture, and one of her employees have been doing a stake-out on their own business, several nights, because they'd been hit 11 times by a BB gun vandal.

Early Thursday morning, after spending six hours on lookout, they saw a man drive up to the store, heard a pop and saw their glass shatter. Snow and her employee followed the car, stayed a safe distance behind and called police. They never let the man out of their sight until police got there and made the arrest.

It turned out, not to be a teenager, like many suspected, but a 55-year-old man, Larry Watts. Police say they confiscated two pellet pistols from Watts' car.

Officers applaud the way the situation was handled. Tulsa Police officer Scott Walton, "I think extremely good judgment was used by these people. It never got to be a high-speed pursuit. These people were prepared to use good judgment. They were just protecting their property and wanted to bring an end to this."

Someone has shot out more than 400 business and church windows in Tulsa in the past few months. Detectives are running a search warrant on Watts' apartment at 16th and Main to see if there's any evidence to connect him to additional shootings.

Here's what we know about Watts, he says on the police report that he's self-employed. He's a former felon, he served 11 months in prison in 1995 for a larceny conviction.