A 16-year-old Oklahoma boy is accused of shooting a father in cold blood as he protected his wife and daughters from a home invasion.
KOTV reported that police believe Deonte Green committed four armed robberies, a sexual assault, and a murder—all on Sunday. Tulsa Police Homicide Sergeant Dave Walker said Green fatally shot school teacher Shane Anderson, 44, in front of his wife and two daughters as he tried to protect them.
“He comes out of his bedroom and sees a stranger with a gun, and he does not hesitate,” Sergeant Walker said. “He gets in a struggle with Green, and Green shoots. He continues to struggle with Green until he collapsed.”
KJRH reported that between 50 and 75 students at Oneta Ridge Middle School left school Monday because they were too distraught about the beloved geography teacher’s death.
While investigating the incident, police encountered an elderly couple who said Green broke into their home an hour earlier. The teen allegedly kidnapped the couple at gunpoint and forced them to withdraw money from an ATM. He then ordered them back home, where he then allegedly raped the 81-year-old woman, according to Inside Edition.
Police said the suspect fired shots at the couple’s home before the went to the Anderson residence for the next stop on his crime spree, KOTV reported.
Green allegedly confronted Anderson, his wife, and two daughters near their car and ordered them back into the home. Upon fatally shooting Anderson, police said he fled the scene and robbed another couple at gunpoint 12 hours later.
Alarmingly, the teen had recently been arrested and was released three days before allegedly embarking on the violent crime spree. Tulsa World reported that he was arrested on September 22 for breaking into a storage unit, stealing a bike, and destroying surveillance cameras. Though he was booked into the Tulsa jail, the paper noted that he likely would have been processed as a juvenile based on current laws on the books.
A police official told Tulsa World that Green was released due to “a breakdown in communication.”
Officials said they had information that the teen was a danger to the community but that information was inadequately distributed within the department.
“It’s just concerning when you have someone of that age—I mean, he’s 16 years old—and you already have members of a detective unit that already know who he is,” Sergeant Shane Tuell said Wednesday.
“His activity as such a young youth—when you know him by name at the age of 16, that’s not good.”
Sergeant Tuell went on to explain that the arresting officer took Green to Tulsa Jail under the assumption that he was a youthful offender. He couldn’t explain how Green was released without being transferred to juvenile detention.
However, the juvenile’s mother, Ebony Green, and stepfather, Mario Brown, claimed Deonte has suffered from mental illness that was worsened since his father’s death in 2011 and his grandmother’s death in 2015.
“He’s been through a lot in his life,” Ebony Green said. “And ever since then [in 2015] it’s been where he’s been more depressed and wanting to kill himself. But he’s never said he wanted to harm somebody or been like, ‘I’m going to go out today and commit a crime.’ No.”
Brown and Ebony also said they don’t believe Deonte is a killer or rapist.
“We begged you all to send him somewhere and get him some help…And I asked for help. He’s been going to a psych doctor since he was 5 years old.”
Deonte has been jailed since late Sunday on multiple charges, including first-degree murder, first-degree rape, and robbery.
[Featured Image: KFOR/Broken Arrow Public Schools]
