Best Buy shootings may be linked to earlier homicides, police say

BY AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer
Monday, July 16, 2012
7/16/12 at 7:23 AM

Police believe Saturday's shootings at a Tulsa Best Buy store were connected to local homicides dating to 2008, and they are seeking the public's help in their investigation.

Scott Dewayne Norman, 34, was shot eight times outside of the store at 5200 E. Skelly Drive just after 2 p.m. Graydon Wesley Brown, 58, was inside the store with his daughter when an errant round struck him in the upper chest. Both men died.

Police believe Norman was the intended target. Brown was not connected to the parties involved and is believed to be an innocent bystander, police said.

The shooter is described as a black man between 25 and 35 years of age who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs 170 to 180 pounds. He had a "scraggly" beard and was wearing a white jersey with writing on the back, possibly reading "Let's eat" with the number four. Police say the shooter may have been tailing Norman and his brother at Tulsa Promenade before the Best Buy shooting.

"We are releasing several images in the hopes that someone with knowledge of the suspect or suspects in this crime can be stopped before any more innocent citizens are put in peril," Sgt. Dave Walker said in a news release Sunday. "... There are now two totally innocent victims that have been killed because citizens that have knowledge of these crimes have chosen to remain silent."

Brown's family also pleaded for help Sunday.

"Our condolences also go out to the other victim, and we are asking, specifically, for his family and friends ... to please let the detectives know whatever they know," Brown's sister Gracelyn Brown said.

Norman has previous felony convictions for drug possession, false personation and driving under the influence of alcohol. He most recently served two years of a three-year sentence in a Tulsa County drug possession case and was released in April 2011, according to Department of Corrections records.

DOC records indicate Norman's tattoos make references to the Hoover Crips gang.

Eight Tulsans believed to be members or affiliates of the Hoover Crips were indicted Thursday on allegations of bank robbery and aggravated assault dating to August 2009.

Homicide detectives said Sunday the slayings were the latest of three connected and apparently gang-related homicides in Tulsa.

Tajuan Davis and Teontae Ray, both 18, were fatally shot in the 2400 block of East 41st Street North on July 8, 2008. Both men reportedly had gang ties.

In July 2011, Bryan Mitchell, 28, and Kanisha Jackson, 27, were killed in the 600 block of East 53rd Street North. Police say Mitchell's murder was presumably in retaliation for the deaths of Davis and Ray and that Jackson was likely killed because she was associated with Mitchell.

Jackson was Mitchell's girlfriend and a teacher's assistant at Hawthorne Elementary School.

She and Brown were the two people police in the release called "innocent victims" in the recent shootings.

Police said more details about Saturday's shooting and links to previous homicides were released "in hopes that people having knowledge of the suspect or suspects in this crime will realize that continued silence will lead to more killings and innocent victims that may touch their very families."

Mitchell and Norman pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of a controlled drug with an intent to distribute in the same Tulsa County felony case in 2008.

Anyone with information on any of the homicides is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS (2677) or submit a tip online at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers Tipsters can remain anonymous and may earn a reward.

The Best Buy store remained closed on Sunday. A sign in a window indicated it would reopen Monday.

Original Print Headline: Shootings may link to earlier murders

Amanda Bland 918-581-8413
amanda.bland@tulsaworld.com

Associated Images:

A sign at the Best Buy store at 5200 E. Skelly Drive indicates the store is closed on Sunday, a day after two people where shot and killed there. CHASE COOK / Tulsa World

Scott Dewayne Norman: Police believe he was the intended target. Records show he has felony convictions and gang-related tattoos.