TULSA, Okla. — The family of the man shot and killed by Tulsa officers on Feb. 8 said pleas for de-escalation were met with hostility, but a Tulsa Police Department spokesman said the actions taken were tragic but necessary.
Michael Glunt was Karmen Glunt's younger brother and Debbie Tyler's son. Tyler said she was the one who called the police after coming home to find her son, who has a history of PTSD and depression, but not drug use, gone without telling anyone. Tyler said he took with him an old revolver she kept for security at their midtown Tulsa apartment.
- Previous coverage>>> Tulsa police shoot and kill man with gun near 51st and Sheridan
Tyler said she later found him walking near 51st and Sheridan, ignoring her attempts to get him to come home with her.
"I didn't know what to do because it was beyond what I could do on my own," Tyler said on Feb. 11. "I thought I was trying to save his life by dialing those numbers (911). But I sealed his fate."
“The loss of any life is absolutely tragic," TPD captain Richard Meulenberg told 2 News on Feb. 12. "And no officer leaves their family, leaves their home in the morning and thinks, ‘At the end of the day I’m going to have to take someone’s life.’”
However, Glunt argues that Tulsa police got things wrong from the beginning.
"They could help her de-escalate him," Karmen Glunt said. "She told the police that he was autistic, that he was in crisis."
Again, Capt. Meulenberg said there is a solid rebuttal to that argument. “The officer who gets out there finds the suspect and says show me your hands, take your hands out of your pocket," Meulenberg said. "And he does so with a revolver in his hands. So at some point when he points that revolver at the officers, which happens immediately, de-escalation isn’t going to work.”
Glunt's family said multiple officers shot him within a minute after getting on scene, then waited nine minutes before attempting any first aid. The police captain said that while he isn't sure how long it took for medical aid, there was only one officer who fired shots.
2 News filed an Open Records Request for TPD body cam footage from the incident, one of two officer-involved shootings in the same weekend.
"There was no one but officers, and the first people to touch him were other cops who put a gun to his head," Glunt's sister said.
"I got to his feet, and they pointed their guns at me," Tyler said. "They told me to get back. I almost didn't. I almost let them shoot me."
Capt. Meulenberg said the situation was unfortunate and delicate for officers to handle.
“Here we have someone who clearly pointed a gun at us, and we can understand that someone wants to come help, especially a family member," he said. "I don’t know that the officers knew that she was a family member. Regardless of that, if he still had access to the gun when we were moving up there, or the situation is very volatile, we’re going to keep as many people away as possible because technically speaking, we now have a scene.”
TPD's statement said one officer is on administrative leave and that evidence from the incident will be provided to the county district attorney's office for review.
The family has since set up a GoFundMe to help cover costs for Glunt's memorial services.
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