Deadly Standoff In Oklahoma City Under Investigation
A standoff in northwest Oklahoma City ended with a suspect dead and a police officer with gunshot injuries.
Oklahoma City Police say they were called to a home on W. Eubanks St. near NW 36th and Pennsylvania shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday on reports that a man was holding a gun to someone’s head.
When officers arrived, a man started shooting outside the home, hitting one officer. The suspect then barricaded himself inside.
Police Captain Valerie Littlejohn said the standoff lasted several hours.
"During this whole incident, that suspect continued to shoot outside of the home at officers. During one of the incidents when he was shooting at officers, an officer was able to discharge his firearm, striking the suspect. The suspect was determined to be deceased at the scene," Littlejohn said.
Littlejohn said police were able to enter the home and rescue two women and three children. All were reported in good condition.
The injured officer was taken to a hospital where he had surgery and is expected to recover.
The officers involved in the gunfire were placed on paid administrative leave as the investigation continues.
Federal Judge Stops Oklahoma Immigration Law From Taking Effect, Latino Community Reacts
Oklahoma’s new immigration law banning people from the state who don’t have legal status is temporarily halted.
Many in the state’s immigrant community are celebrating. But for some, the mere existence of House Bill 4156 has served as a reality check.
Anita Menjivar is the president of Oklahoma’s Association of Hondurans. Her organization led protests with hundreds of people against House Bill 4156 at the State Capitol.
Menjivar is a citizen. She says seeing her community unite against the bill helped her realize the importance of voting in local and state-level elections.
“I've never voted for someone at the state-level. But I realized that it’s so important to choose our local representatives, because I felt so discriminated against, and that’s where it was coming from," Menjivar said through a translator.
Now Menjivar says it’s up to her to help convince her family, friends and neighbors of the same thing: that local elections matter too.
School District Leadership Milestone
For the first time, Black women are leading Oklahoma’s two largest school districts.
Jamie Polk officially stepped into the OKCPS superintendent role on Monday. She succeeded Sean McDaniel.
Ebony Johnson became the first Black woman to lead the Tulsa district when she was appointed interim superintendent in September and hired permanently in December.
Nonprofit news outlet Oklahoma Voice reports when Johnson was promoted, Oklahoma had only one other Black female superintendent at the time
Research shows a positive impact on minority students’ performance when they have teachers of the same race.
But the demographics of school leaders in Oklahoma public schools are very different from the students they serve.
While more than three-quarters of public educators in the state are white, more than half of all students are racial or ethnic minorities.
New Effort To Understand, Document Catholic Indian Boarding Schools Trauma
New guidelines from Catholic bishops seek to improve relations with Native Americans.
One recommendation is to conduct listening sessions in Indigenous communities.
Last month, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a document acknowledging the trauma caused by Catholic Indian boarding schools.
In Oklahoma, church leaders want to continue the conversation through the Oklahoma Catholic Native Schools Project.
Its mission: “to better understand the history and experiences of Native students in Oklahoma Catholic boarding schools from 1880 to 1965.”
The church will host community dinners and private interviews in Ardmore, Muskogee and Pawhuska this month.
Those who attended a Catholic-run Indian boarding school and their descendants are welcome to attend.
Independent oral history contractors will conduct the interviews, which will be compiled into a report.
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