Six people are dead after a shooting on Tuesday morning in Muskogee, Oklahoma, NBC News reports.
Officers responded to a call of a shooting at a home at 1:30 a.m. and found the person who they believe carried out the killing. 25-year-old Jarron Deajon Pridgeon was allegedly armed and wandering near the home when officers arrived. An officer fired on Pridgeon, missing him as he fled the scene. He was detained after police chased him down on foot. Though he lives at the home, reports indicate that he was refusing to cooperate with investigators. As such, they have no motive for what went on inside the home.
"We don't believe it was random," Muskogee Police Officer Lynn Hamlin told USA Today. "We just don't have details yet of the why or what happened."
According to NBC News, the suspect is related to the victims. Muskogee police Chief Johnny Teehee relayed that Pridgeon is the brother of the man that was killed in the shooting, 24-year-old Javarion Lee.
In the house, police found one man and four children who had been killed. Another child who was wounded died after being transported to a hospital in Tulsa. A woman at the scene was wounded, but is currently in stable condition.
“It was not random obviously because they all did live in this home together, but as far as what all those relationships look like, we just don’t know that yet,” Hamlin told the Associated Press.
Muskogee Mayor Marlon Coleman released a statement on the shooting, writing, "Today tragedy struck our community the likes of which we have not seen in decades."
Coleman continued, "Many of us went to bed resting in anticipation of tomorrow's hopes, only to have awakened to know that five babies with unlimited potential are no longer with us; their lives taken prematurely, their families grappling with a new horror, and our community paralyzed with grief. Even though the suspect is in custody, no court of law or sentencing phase can restore this loss of life."
