Two white men were arrested Sunday in the shooting deaths of three black people in Tulsa, Okla. that's raised racial tensions in the southern U.S. city.
The shootings also left two black people critically injured.
The two men were arrested around 1:47 a.m. north of the city in a home and were identified by police as 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts.
"There obviously still is a lot of investigation" ahead, Tulsa police spokesman Jason Willingham told The Associated Press.
"We don't have a motive at this time. We are still asking questions and hopefully that will become clear in coming days."
He said the suspects were taken early Sunday for questioning at a downtown Tulsa police station and would be booked and then jailed.
Willingham said the arrests followed a Cime Stoppers tip on Saturday but he declined to give details.
"We've been on them since early in the evening (of Saturday). We had been doing surveillance and using a helicopter," he said.
Police had said previously that they were searching for a white man driving a white pickup, which was spotted in the area of three of the shootings early Friday.
At least two dozen officers were called to investigate the case, along with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service.
The arrests came hours after authorities created Operation Random Shooter, a task force of various law enforcement agencies at different levels of government that have been working together on the case.
Authorities had said they thought the shootings by an attacker or attackers were linked because they happened around the same time within a five-kilometre span and all five victims were out walking when they were shot.
Willingham said authorities still faced many unanswered questions after the arrests.
Police, in their initial statement announcing the arrests via email, didn't discuss any issues of race even as authorities signalled many questions remained and the investigation is still very active.
Police had said previously that they didn't believe the victims knew one another and they were trying to determine the circumstances behind the killings.
Black community leaders met Friday evening in an effort to calm worries about the shootings, which had alarmed the predominantly black north Tulsa area.
The Rev. Warren Blakney Sr., president of the Tulsa NAACP, had contacted police to emphasize the need for all to work together to avoid vigilantism.
Blakney also had spoken of "avid distrust" between the African-American community and the police department and he also raised concerns that the shootings be fully investigated.
saidGreat guess, Sherlock. However, your comment implies that plenty of "black" people are murdered by "white" people today, for reasons of race alone. This is utter nonsense, as, statistically, the vast majority of crime (especially that involving homicide) against African Americans is, indeed, committed by African Americans. Take a pill, and bone up on your facts. Thanks.
Gundula Baehre
saidI kind of assumed that the suspects would be white tr---. That will hopefully shut up the ignoramuses who always claim that the ONLY violence against African Americans is by other African Americans. Let's just hope that these lowlife racists are prosecuted to the absolutely fullest and most severe extent of the law.
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