TULSA, Okla. — Turkey Mountain is quadrupling the number of cameras at its park after two random attacks.
Jon Harden spent the morning of August 22 putting up several new cameras at Turkey Mountain. He owns Midwest Technology and jumped in to help after the reported rape on August 18.
“My family uses this park a lot and so I thought if there’s anything I can do that’s what I wanted to do,” said Jon Harden.
The extra cameras are a part of the plan to provide more security at the park.
“This is going to quadruple the presence of cameras at the site,” said Turkey Mountain manager Ryan Howell. “It’s been part of a larger process, but the recent activities, we made the decision to speed up some of that.”
Around 10 pm on August 18, a woman walking in the park says a man attacked her and then raped her. Police say she was able to get away afterwards and ran to the parking lot.
Previous Coverage >>> Woman reports rape at Turkey Mountain
2 News was there – on July 24 – after a 25-year-old woman was stabbed in the face several times while jogging at the park. Police arrested 29-year-old Jesse James Brown for that crime.
“It is shocking and appalling,” said Howell.
Previous Coverage >>> Woman stabbed in the face while jogging at Turkey Mountain, suspect in custody
Howell says the cameras will eventually be hooked up to Tulsa Police Department’s Real Time Information Center, so officers will have 24/7 access to the cameras.
It’s not just added cameras at the park. Tulsa Police are also increasing their presence at Turkey Mountain.
“The Tulsa Police Department are doing an active around the clock monitoring of Turkey Mountain at the current time,” said Howell.
Around 250,000 people visit the park every year.
“There’s not a lot of places to hike in Tulsa, so I came here before there were any trails,” said Rebekah Heinz.
Rebekah Heinz is one of them.
“It’s not going to scare me,” said Heinz. “I’m going to keep coming.”
She’s thankful new cameras are getting installed and police are spending more time at the park.
“I’m so glad that we’ve got the extra security measures,” said Heinz. “It’ll help all of us enjoy the park still.”
Turkey Mountain plans to have a visitor center with a security office on site. They hope to finish fundraising for the project by the end of the year and start work in 2026.
Howell said Turkey Mountain has about 200 volunteers called the “Turkey Trail Team” who are the eyes and ears of the park. They’ve had 50 more people sign up this week after the reported rape.
Police are still searching for the man responsible for that rape. They say he could be tied to another sexual assault at Hunter Park on August 21.
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