OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A man who robbed a cellphone store at gunpoint and was later fatally shot by officers was found by use of a tracking device he had unknowingly taken from the store during the robbery, police in Oklahoma City said Tuesday.
The man, whose name had not been released, was shot shortly before 6 p.m. Monday when three officers opened fire on him less than a mile from the store, according to police Capt. Bo Mathews.
Police responded to a call of an armed robbery at the store in south Oklahoma City around 5:30 p.m. after the man reportedly pointed a gun at a store clerk, Mathews said.
"Unknown to the suspect, he left the business with a tracking device" that had been placed by the clerk in a bag of items the man stole from the store, Mathews said. "Officers were given a description of the suspect and his location was ascertained from the tracking device" by the clerk.
Officers Drake Carder, Joshua Gershon and Corey Adams found the man, who led them on a brief foot chase before ignoring orders not to reach for what the officers may have believed to be a weapon, according to Mathews.
Mathews initially said the officers had ordered the man to drop his weapon, but now says that was based on preliminary information and that he does not know if it is true, pending interviews with the officers that are expected in about two days.
Mathews said police have seized a vehicle the man is believed to have been riding in just prior to the robbery and shooting.
The fatal shooting was the second by police in Oklahoma on Monday.
Muskogee police say an officer fatally shot 36-year-old Andrew Kana about 2 p.m. inside a bar and grill while trying to arrest him on assault and weapons charges from Oklahoma and Idaho.
Police spokesman Lincoln Anderson says Kana was shot after drawing a gun while resisting being handcuffed.
Anderson says three officers were inside the establishment and are on paid leave. Their names haven't been released.
