Four Dead In Murder-Suicide Near Skiatook
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Skiatook - Four people are dead after an apparent triple murder-suicide in
Skiatook. Sheriff's deputies tell NewsChannel 8 Howard Hawthorne shot
Anthony Graham, Joshua LaForte and Dewayne Goodwin before turning the gun on
himself. As NewsChannel 8's Abby Ross explains, it all stemmed from a fight
over a fence.
Because the scene is so emotional and so disturbing, deputies are not
allowing anyone to get anywhere near the scene. Even more than five hours
after the shootings, squad cars remained on the scene to gather evidence at
a crime scene no one would have ever expected.
A line of squad cars and crime scene tape are not the type of things
neighbors in this country community usually see.
"Something unheard of out here," a neighbor told us. "Like I said, I see a
lot more accidents on 126th than you hear about this."
It all began with a fence post. Deputies tell us two neighbors had a fight
over a property line. One neighbor started taking down a fence post. That's
when police say Howard Hawthorne got a shotgun. They say he shot the
neighbor, two other people, then turned the gun on himself.
"I've been doing this a long time," says Tulsa County Undersheriff Brian
Edwards. "And this is one of the more disturbing crime scenes I've been to."
To get everything under control, deputies blocked off nearly a mile of the
road. Even after an hour, more squad cars were going in than out. Since the
homes are so spread out, it takes a little while for neighbors to find out
what's going on. And, when the do, they can't believe it.
The sheriff's department tells us they went to the home just an hour before
the shooting. Deputies thought they had settled the dispute.
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/1106/373915.html
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Killing spree toll could have risen
By NICOLE MARSHALL World Staff Writer
11/11/2006
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Two other people were potential targets of a gunman who killed three people
and himself.
Moving a 35-year-old fence about seven feet sparked the shooting spree that
left four people dead Thursday, sheriff's deputies said.
But the death toll could have been even higher. At least two people who
witnessed the rampage Thursday were able to avoid being shot themselves.
When Ronald Doherty, 77, heard gunshots outside his house, he went outside
to see what was happening.
"My grandson and the friend of my son, they were underneath my little white
truck out front of my house, and my neighbor was trying to shoot them with a
shotgun," he said. "They were trying to get away from him."
Howard Hawthorne, Doherty's 61-year-old neighbor, was down on his knees,
apparently shooting at them while they were under the pickup, Doherty said.
"I yelled out real loud, 'Howard, stop that! What in the hell are you doing?
Have you gone crazy, or what?' " Doherty said. "He didn't say anything. He
just looked up at me like he was in outer space or something."
Doherty was so close to the gunman that he realized that he could be shot
next, "and I don't have a gun or anything, so ran I back in and called
911," he said.
Doherty is the stepfather of Anthony Graham, 44, one of three men who
deputies say were fatally shot with a 12-gauge shotgun by Hawthorne, who
then turned the gun on himself.
"Howard has been a good neighbor, and I have know him for years and years
and years, but . . . he was just running wild. You could not stop him,"
Doherty said.
Also slain were Graham's son, Joshua LeForte, 24, and Graham's longtime
friend, Duane Goodwin, 47, Tulsa County Sheriff's Capt. Fred Cotton said.
Graham's wife also was outside and saw her husband and son being shot. She
ran from the gunman, trying to dial 911 on a cellular phone as she ran,
Detective Todd Cole said.
Just as Skiatook police officers drove up, Hawthorne shot himself as he sat
on a garden tractor, Cotton said. The officers had no time to intervene.
"Their vehicles were still moving and, as they approached, he was still on
the lawn tractor trying to get himself in position," Cotton said.
With the officers there, Doherty thought it was safe to look outside.
"I looked over to the left where my boy was lying, and I saw Howard on top
of his riding lawn mower, and it looked like he was dead, too," he said.
A few years ago, Doherty had given Graham five acres of his land in the 3800
block of East 126th Street North. Graham and his family lived on that
property behind Doherty's house.
A fence on the land had fallen into disrepair, and recent surveys showed
that it was about seven feet from where it should have been built, Doherty
said.
"Since the fence was not good anymore, my son wanted to replace it and put
it back where the survey said it should be," he said.
Doherty didn't have the money for a survey when he built the fence in 1971,
he said. But in the past few years, the property had been surveyed three
times, all with the same result, he said.
"The third one we did because my boy wanted to make dead sure if he was
moving the fence that he was putting it in the right place. They all came
out the same way," Doherty said.
Cotton said Hawthorne was not happy that his property line was changing,
even though he was not losing any land. His entire property was shifting
about seven feet to the east.
While the men worked to remove the fence Thursday evening, Doherty saw
Hawthorne go out and take pictures of them and then go back to his house.
Deputies and police were called to the property about 4 p.m. to a
disturbance involving the neighbors.
"When the deputies left, according to them, Mr. Hawthorne was in good
spirits and appeared to be OK," Cotton said.
Before they left, deputies advised Hawthorne and Graham to take the matter
to civil court. A short time later, Doherty was inside his home of 35 years
when he heard the gunfire.
Cole said Hawthorne shot Graham first as he was getting off a tractor.
LeForte and Goodwin then tried to flee.
LeForte was found dead in a roadway. He apparently had been shot twice, once
after he was already down, Cole said. Goodwin was found about 90 feet away
behind a shed.
"We will never know what went through this guy's mind," Cole said of
Hawthorne. "But I believe he went over there with plans to do something. He
never said anything before he started shooting."
Graham owned a heating and air conditioning business. He also owned a mobile
home park in Oologah and built houses.
Doherty described his son as outgoing, and he described his grandson,
LeForte, as a "happy-go-lucky kid" with a 4-year-old daughter.
LeForte was a skilled mechanic and worked with Graham, his stepfather.
Goodwin was a longtime friend of Graham's, and both men had attended
Collinsville schools together, Goodwin's father, Silas Goodwin, said. He was
married and had two adult children.
Silas Goodwin said his son was a mechanic who lived in Tahlequah but
frequently came back to the area to pick up parts for jet skis and
motorcycles.
"Anything that runs he could work on," Silas Goodwin said.
Goodwin left his parents' house, on 126th Street North just a few miles from
the shooting scene, about 4:30 p.m. and drove to Graham's. "He must have
just got there when this all happened," Silas Goodwin said.
Cole said investigators have found no record of violence in Hawthorne's
past.
"We have never seen anything like this at the Sheriff's Office."
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=061111_To_A1_Killi47428#