Tulsa teen shot by Cushing police dies at hospital
BY SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer
Saturday, January 12, 2013
1/12/13 at 4:29 AM
CUSHING - A Tulsa teenager who was shot by police amid a disturbance at a chiropractic business has died at a Tulsa hospital.
Rabih Ozeir, 18, was shot by two police officers after he confronted them with a gun Thursday evening outside Simpson Chiropractic in Cushing, according to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The officers ordered Ozeir to put down his gun, but he did not comply. They fired several times, the OSBI said.
Ozeir was taken to a local hospital and then was flown to a Tulsa hospital, where he died, the OSBI said. The state Medical Examiner's Office is performing an autopsy.
The Cushing Police Department asked the OSBI to investigate and present a report to the Payne County District Attorney's Office to determine whether the shooting was justified.
Interim Police Chief Tully Folden said the department is not releasing the names of the officers involved. He said they are on paid administrative leave pending the results of the investigation.
Folden said police believe that Ozeir was a student in Cushing at one time.
Union Public Schools spokeswoman Gretchen Haas-Bethell said Ozeir had just rejoined Union on Monday as a junior. He had attended the high school previously but left in October 2011 to enroll in a virtual school, she said.
Sheldon Lee, a gym manager at the chiropractic facility, said high school-age members told him that Ozeir had been at the gym and was trying to instigate a fight by offering to pay someone to beat him up.
Lee said the gym members tried to defuse the situation by getting Ozeir outside. Lee said he was told by sources who were there at the time that Ozeir retrieved a gun from his car.
"None of the staff knew him, but some from high school knew him previously," Lee said.
Original Print Headline: Tulsa teenager shot by Cushing police amid distubance dies
Susan Hylton 918-581-8381
susan.hylton@tulsaworld.com
