Arrest made in weekend shooting death of Tulsa teen

Monday, December 10th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police are investigating the murder of a Tulsa teenager. Police say a group of teens got together to party over the weekend. When it ended, there was gunfire, and a 16-year-old Tulsa boy was dead.

News on Six reporter Steve Berg tells us what happened. "He was real funny, when you were down; he'd make you feel happy. He was a good friend, a good cousin." Cyrus McCosar's family says he had a good sense of humor and liked to hang out with friends on the weekend. That's what he was doing at this house this weekend when an argument that started earlier at a nearby hotel carried over here.

Witnesses say while trying to break up the fight he became the victim. He was shot once in the side and died later at a local hospital. His cousin Ashley says he was like most 16-year-old's, dreaming about fancy cars and becoming a music star. "He always said he was going to get an Escalade one day. H and me we always said we'd have a little rap crew, the Westside Warriors."

Cyrus had dropped out of school, but kept himself busy with his grandfather's house-painting business. His family says he liked to lift weights and run, and hunt and fish like his dad. Police say the circumstances leading up to his death is all too common, but certainly no less tragic for his loved ones. Tulsa Police homicide Sgt. Mike Huff, "Any death is disturbing, and we take it very seriously, we don't ever want to call one common, but when somebody loses a live it's a very serious incident." Police have already arrested the suspected shooter. They say he was not directly involved in the fight. But a split-second gunshot has life-ending consequences.

Police arrested 20-year-old Benjamin Anderson at a house in the same neighborhood where the shooting happened. They booked him on a complaint of first-degree murder. He's being held without bond. He told police that "he" was trying to break up the fight, and that the shooting was an accident.