The OSBI renewing $5,000 reward for information about Thanksgiving shooting

WAGONER, Okla. - A shooting survivor is giving thanks this year.

Last Thanksgiving, 74-year-old Kenneth Payne was shot multiple times at a gun range near Wagoner.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is renewing a $5,000 reward for the men who stole his guns and left him for dead.  

"I have a lot to be thankful for," said Payne.

This year, Thanksgiving is a lot different from last for Payne and his wife Kathy.

He's survived several gun shot wounds, multiple surgeries and weeks in the hospital.

Last year, he was doing his daily routine, waking up early and heading to the Fort Gibson Wildlife Management Area Shooting Range when the incident happened.

"I left here about seven, I was firing for about an hour, an hour and a half," said Payne

He says he saw the two suspects.

"There was two men there and I didn't pay much attention to them and they didn't pay any attention to me," said Payne.

While he was walking back to his truck and packing up for home, he heard a gunshot.

"It knocked me down and paralyzed me," said Payne.

"I heard footsteps and I felt the gun pointing at my head," said Payne.

The men shot Kenneth in the head and stole his guns and his gun caddy.

Kathy Payne is just thankful her husband is alive.

"That nine millimeter should have killed him," said Kathy.

It's been a year and there are no answers and no arrests. Investigators have released police sketches of the potential suspects.

Instead of focusing on the bad, including how much the wounds have impacted Kenneth's life, the Paynes are focusing on the present.

"I've had 65 really good Thanksgivings but this has got to be the best," said Kathy.

The $5,000 reward for information about this shooting has been renewed, anyone with information can call the Wagoner County Sheriff's Office at (918) 485-3124 or the OSBI hotline, at 1-800-522-8017.