Police respond to bogus shooting call
BY AMANDA BLAND World Staff Writer
Thursday, February 21, 2013
2/21/13 at 2:12 PM
Tulsa police are attempting to determine who called in a bogus report of eight shooting victims inside a residence Thursday morning.
A caller told dispatchers he or she had witnessed a shooting inside a home in the 5800 block of East 47th Street just after 8:30 a.m., Officer Leland Ashley said. The caller reported eight possible victims.
Police converged on the neighborhood and surrounded the home in a brief standoff.
Officers cleared the residence within about 40 minutes. No victims were found.
An officer at the scene told reporters that responders encountered a woman with obvious mental issues who was convinced she’d witnessed the shooting.
Ashley said false calls, although serious, are not uncommon and pose myriad dangers for responders and residents.
“One of the biggest challenges (of police work) is going to a call and not really knowing what’s going to be there when you get there,” he said.
“So much of our job is the unknown.”
Freezing rain continued to fall in Tulsa as all available officers within the police department’s Riverside Division sped to the scene, expounding safety concerns.
“Everyone is pulling out the stops to try to get there and contain this individual,” Ashley said.
Dozens of emergency responders flooded the neighborhood, including medics with EMSA and the Tulsa Fire Department who waited nearby to attend to victims.
Associated Images:
Police respond to a residence near 47th Street and Irvington Avenue after a mentally ill person called police on Thursday. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World
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