Homicide detectives are investigating what happened to a man found dead in an alley near downtown Tulsa Saturday afternoon.
Police responded to a call for a body found near West Admiral Boulevard and North Phoenix Avenue around 1 p.m.
Homicide Sergeant Dave Walker says police found a 54-year-old man with at least one gunshot wound to the chest. His name has not yet been released. Police say he appeared to be living in a tiny structure in the alley.
He says the victim looked like he had been dead for about 12 hours.
Neighbors in the area told police that they heard shots fired around 7 p.m. Friday. Detectives say that might have been the time the murder occurred.
Police say they do not have any suspect information and are still searching for people who witnessed the murder.
2 Works for You spoke with the man who first found the body during his daily bike ride and called 911.
Bob Bennett says he didn't know what had happened when he found the man, but he says regardless of how this man lived, he didn't deserve to die like this.
"I saw a man [lying] partially on the grass and partially on the pavement," said Bennett. "As I got closer, I saw blood and I thought 'ok this is not a good thing.'"
Neighbors say the man lived in a makeshift shack right next to the alleyway for nearly four years.
Bennett says it wasn't the outcome he was expecting.
"First they thought it was natural causes, and I said 'oh, nobody needs to die like that, just alone like that, it's just so wrong,'" Bennett said. "And then to hear that he had been murdered, cause that's what it was, it just, um, I can't describe it."
Bennett and his neighbors say they're shaken up, but they won't give up hope for their home.
"He's a human being,” said neighbor Rickey Haydurst. “I'd love for him to have that solved and get another murderer off the streets. We've had enough.”
"You have to be willing to take a stand and take back your neighborhood," said Bennett. "If you want to do that stuff, you take it to another planet."
Anyone with information regarding Tulsa's 44th homicide is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS or the Homicide Tip Line at 918-798-8477.
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