Two people shot and killed at a Tulsa business

Tulsa homicide detectives are looking for a killer and have been interviewing witnesses all day. <br/><br/>News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright was the first journalist on the scene just minutes after

Friday, April 15th 2005, 10:38 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa homicide detectives are looking for a killer and have been interviewing witnesses all day.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright was the first journalist on the scene just minutes after it happened and says Tulsa Police found the owner of a hardware store at 1428 North Lewis and another employee in the back office. Each one had been shot once in the head, execution style.

A third employee barely escaped with her life when the killer grabbed her and tried to pull her toward the back of the store as well.

The This â€˜N That Hardware store was just opening for business when a man walked inside and went to the back of the store with owner Zach Jones and employee Eddie Phoenix. A third employee was out front setting up a table when she heard an unusual noise. Tulsa Police Sgt Sandy Bayles: "At that time, the suspect came running from the back and grabbed her and tried to pull her to the back of the store, but, she got away and managed to call the dispatch."

She ran across the street to a mechanics shop where employees thought they'd heard a car back-fire moments before, then, realized, it was gunshots. They tried to comfort the terrified woman. Neighbor Bill Lawmaster: "Hysterical, saying they tried to get her, tried to grab her or hold her hostage, totally hysterical."

A witness in a nearby pharmacy drive-thru across the street from the hardware store told police she heard screaming, and then saw a man run past her.

Neighbors say Zach Jones had owned this business for the past four or five years. He was 33 and married and the father of five children, mostly sons, the youngest, is only a year old. His friends were stunned. Larry Nelson: "Very open-hearted, help anyone, if you were a few dollars short, he'd help anyone, he was a good friend of mine."

Family and friends quickly gathered around the shop, most people couldn't believe such a cold-blooded killing happened so close by. Bill Davis: "Weird, all I knew about Zach was he was well liked in the community and did good things in the community and for this to happen, is shocking."

Witnesses say the killer was a black man about 5-feet-8 inches tall and 170 pounds. He has short hair and was wearing a ballcap and a blue jogging suit with white stripes. If you have any information about this case, you can call Crimestoppers at 596-COPS.