Murder charges filed in shooting outside Tulsa convenience store
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL & AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
9/12/12 at 7:59 AM
First-degree murder charges were filed Tuesday in connection with a shooting outside a Tulsa convenience store that resulted in the deaths of a Jenks High School student and another man.
Jermaine Jackson, 19, is accused of fatally shooting Kristjan Hinrik Thorsson, 18, and John White, 37, outside the QuikTrip store at 1415 E. 71st St. about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, according to charges that were filed in Tulsa County District Court.
Thorsson, who was a student at Jenks High School, died at St. Francis Hospital later that morning. White succumbed to his injuries Monday afternoon.
Witnesses told police that a disturbance between the two victims and the shooter took place in the QuikTrip parking lot, police said.
They allege that Jackson pulled a gun and fired several shots into the Chrysler Concorde in which Thorsson and White were sitting.
White, who was the driver, drove into a neighboring church parking lot before stopping, police said.
Meanwhile, Thorsson's relatives and friends across two countries are mourning his death.
Thorsson, a native of Iceland, moved with his mother and sister from Reykjavik seven years ago, said his grandmother Helena Mawby, who has lived in Tulsa for decades.
"He was just a young person going into life," Mawby said. "His dream was to go into music, write lyrics."
White's family did not comment Tuesday.
Mawby recalled how her grandson used to sleep with his drawing pad at an early age.
"He was extremely good at drawing and painting," she said. "You could ask him to make you a picture of whatever," and he would.
"It was just something he had in him," she said.
Despite the tough exterior he maintained in front of his peers, as exhibited on his Facebook page, Mawby said Thorsson was "extremely loving."
He always gave big hugs, she said.
Thorsson visited his uncle in Iceland two years ago and re-established old friendships there.
Mawby said the community there is shocked by his death.
The Reykjavik Grapevine reported Monday that a friend of Thorsson's, Ólafur Gunnar Daníelsson, spoke with reporters after hearing about the shooting at a birthday party.
"Naturally, we broke down. We just sat there, out of our minds and feeling horrible," he's quoted as saying.
"We were just so unbelievably angry and felt this was so unfair."
Iceland, a country of about 300,000 people, has an extremely low gun-crime rate.
In each of the years from 1996 to 2007, the last year for which data was readily available, the number of gun-related homicides in the country ranged from zero to one, the website GunPolicy.org reported.
Mawby described the crime as senseless and scary.
"I hope he (the shooter) doesn't get away with it," she said.
Thorsson's grandmother pleaded for anyone with information to contact the police.
Jackson, who had not been arrested by Tuesday night, is described as black, 5 feet 7 to 5 feet 10 inches tall and 140 to 150 pounds.
The shooter was wearing a red baseball cap, a red shirt and plastic-frame glasses and had a goatee, police said.
Anyone with information regarding Jackson's whereabouts is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS or tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers; call the Homicide Tip Line at 918-798-8477; or email homicide@cityoftulsa.org.
A funeral for Thorsson is scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at the Reynolds Rose Hill Funeral Home.
Services for White are pending.
Original Print Headline: Charges are filed in shooting
Kendrick Marshall 918-581-8386 Amanda Bland 918-581-8413
kendrick.marshall@tulsaworld.com amanda.bland@tulsaworld.com
