Authorities investigate shooting on the BA Expressway

Tuesday, August 2nd 2005, 11:00 am

By: News On 6

A Tulsa highway shooting hits too close to home for a Tulsa man. He was driving on the Broken Arrow Expressway near Utica early Monday morning when someone shot a hole through his delivery truck.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright explains.

"Right here's where it went in." Paul Chittum with Briarwood Auto Service is as surprised as anyone that someone shot at his delivery truck while he was behind the wheel. He'd just picked up a load of Tulsa World newspapers around 1:30 AM Monday and headed out to make deliveries.

Paul was driving on the Broken Arrow Expressway when he heard a thumping sound. He thought one of his bundles in the back had fallen, so he checked. Everything was fine and he went about his business and never thought about it again until the next day. "One of my drivers came in yesterday and said you need to look at the truck. Just teasing, I said, what'd ya hit? He said there's a bullet hole, all the way through."

Paul says it made him wonder who would do it and why, even if it did hit in the middle of the truck, it's still unsettling. "I got my tape measure out and it's about head high for a driver and I thought, that's a little close. I don't care if it is eight feet, I don't like bullets zipping past me."

Paul says he doesn't know if it's a kid or a grownup, but either way, it's dangerous and can only be a matter of time before someone gets hurt or killed. "I don't know if they're trying to hit anybody or something, but, I was a moving target going 55-60 miles an hour." Paul says what makes these shootings so dangerous is the enemy is not one you can see, which means there's no way to fight back or even protect yourself.

Tulsa Police say the incident on I-244 and Southwest Boulevard last Thursday was not a bullet. However, they are still investigating a possible shooting from last Tuesday at US Highway 75 and Southwest Boulevard that barely missed a child in a car seat.

And, of course, Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers still hope they catch whoever shot at one car in May and four in April along the Creek Turnpike near Broken Arrow.

They want everyone to be on the look-out for suspicious people along area highways and report it immediately.