Man arrested in killing of 5 children, 1 adult in Oklahoma

MUSKOGEE, Okla. — Six people, including five young children, were shot to death early Tuesday at a home in Oklahoma, and a 25-year-old man suspected in the killings was taken into custody, police said.

Officers responded about 1:30 a.m. to a call of multiple people shot at a home in Muskogee, Police Officer Lynn Hamlin said.

Authorities found one man and four children dead at the scene, and a fifth child died at a Tulsa hospital, Hamlin said. Officers also encountered Jarron Deajon Pridgeon with a gun and took him into custody.

A woman who was shot and wounded was in stable condition Tuesday afternoon, Hamlin said.

Authorities have not released the victims’ names.

Hamlin described the slain youths as “small children” but said police do not yet have their exact ages. She said authorities don’t know a motive but do not believe any other suspects are involved.

Hamlin said the suspect and victims all lived in the home, but that the exact nature of their relationships had not been determined.

“It was not random obviously because they all did live in this home together, but as far as what all those relationships look like, we just don’t know that yet,” Hamlin said.

She said Pridgeon was not co-operating with investigators.

Jail records do not list an attorney who could speak on Pridgeon’s behalf.

Muskogee is a city of just under 40,000 people about 45 miles (70 kilometres) southeast of Tulsa.

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This story has been corrected to show the suspect’s first name is Jarron, not Jarrod.

The Associated Press