Shooting victim says North Tulsa incident could have been prevented

A shooting over the weekend at a north side Tulsa shopping center leaves one man dead and many people asking serious questions. <br><br>News On six reporter Patrina Adger says the Northridge Shopping

Monday, July 8th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A shooting over the weekend at a north side Tulsa shopping center leaves one man dead and many people asking serious questions.

News On six reporter Patrina Adger says the Northridge Shopping Center is a common hot spot for young people to hang out on the weekends. More than 300 people were there this weekend when a fight broke out.

A victim of the shootings says the incident could've been prevented. Cawanna Boyd, "I was real scared, the most scared I've been in my life." 17-year-old Cawanna Boyd was shot in the hip at the Northridge Shopping Center after fights broke out early Sunday morning. She was shot by 21-year-old Andre Talton was then killed by police when he opened fire into a crowd of people.

Boyd says if police had responded to the fights sooner, the shooting might not have happened. "They were quick to shoot that man down, but weren't quick to breakup the fight and it wouldn't have happened if they gotten out of their cars."

Boyd believes it boils down to a lack of adequate security. â€œEven though he shot me, I don't thing he would've started shooting if police told him to put down his gun." Tulsa Police Major Mark McCory says theyâ€™re doing what they can to hire more help. Federal money used to hire extra offbeat officers has run out.

So they've used their own resources to increase manpower by six more officers. "We've alternated weekends so these guys will give up their day off so they can supplement the field." He says it's ultimately up to the owner of the Northridge Shopping Center to get security officers since it's private property. And Boyd agrees.

Major McCory tells us he and the owner of Northridge Shopping Center will get together this week to come up with security ideas to prevent this incident from happening again.