Oklahoma City records fourth homicide of new year

Thursday, January 6th 2005, 2:00 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A man found unconscious in a house by police investigating reports of an assault has died at a local hospital, becoming the fourth homicide victim in the city in the new year, police said Thursday.

Police have arrested one suspect in the death.

The 58-year-old man, whose name was not released, was found unconscious shortly after 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Sgt. Charles Phillips.

Witnesses identified the suspect as Jerome Rondell Cooper, 18, and told officers Cooper left the home after assaulting the victim, Phillips said.

Cooper was arrested when he returned to the home while investigators were still at the scene and he is now jailed on a first-degree murder complaint, Phillips said.

The fourth homicide of 2005 in Oklahoma City came on the fifth day of the new year. There were 51 homicides in the city during 2004, Phillips said.