OKLAHOMA CITY, OK - A lethal standoff in Oklahoma City that began with the shooting of a police officer responding to a disturbance on Tuesday ended with the suspect being shot and killed following a standoff with law enforcement.
As reported by KOCO, Officer Joshua Scott, an eight-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) was reportedly shot by Kavon Ragan, 22, after Scott responded to a disturbance report at a residence where a man was alleged to be holding someone at gunpoint. Officers encountered Ragan and attempted to de-escalate the situation. Ragan however, refused to comply with the officer's orders and moved in and out of the home before turning his weapon on the police.
Officer Scott was hit and his colleagues returned fire while others moved the stricken officer into a vehicle for transport to an area hospital. Scott has reportedly undergone surgery and is expected to recover.
Ragan then reportedly barricaded himself inside the home with several civilians, beginning a standoff that lasted hours. Negotiators were brought in to attempt to defuse the situation, however, once negotiations broke down with Ragan firing several shots at officers, a tactical team was called in.
During one of the exchanges of fire, Ragan was struck and killed by returned fire from police.
With the suspect neutralized, the tactical team breached the house by deploying flashbangs and confirmed he was killed. Two adult women and three children were rescued from the hostage situation and were unharmed according to the outlet.
As of this report, the cause of the initial disturbance is unknown. According to reporter Johnathon Hayes with KFOR, a U.S. Marshals Task Force also participated in the incident and returned fire at Ragan, who was identified as a convicted felon.
Hayes reported that the officers involved are now on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation related to the shooting. The outlet noted that several homes and entire blocks were evacuated to prevent anyone from leaving the area.
In a press conference following the incident, OCPD Chief Wade Gourley told reporters, “I hate that he’s having to be in the hospital and spend time there right now and he is injured. But in the scheme of things, he’s going to be OK.”
Gourley also defended the conduct of the incident explaining the de-escalation steps taken, saying, "They’re trying to communicate and talk to this person and get them to come out of the residence and make sure that the people inside are safe. That is classic de-escalation. Negotiation is de-escalation, and what they’re trying to do and ultimately what they wanted out of that.”
He also lauded the responding officers, saying, “Those guys that were out there on that scene, those officers, the men and women of our tactical unit, I think are the best in the country. They train regularly for those types of scenarios.”
As reported by KOCO, Officer Joshua Scott, an eight-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Police Department (OCPD) was reportedly shot by Kavon Ragan, 22, after Scott responded to a disturbance report at a residence where a man was alleged to be holding someone at gunpoint. Officers encountered Ragan and attempted to de-escalate the situation. Ragan however, refused to comply with the officer's orders and moved in and out of the home before turning his weapon on the police.
Officer Scott was hit and his colleagues returned fire while others moved the stricken officer into a vehicle for transport to an area hospital. Scott has reportedly undergone surgery and is expected to recover.
Ragan then reportedly barricaded himself inside the home with several civilians, beginning a standoff that lasted hours. Negotiators were brought in to attempt to defuse the situation, however, once negotiations broke down with Ragan firing several shots at officers, a tactical team was called in.
During one of the exchanges of fire, Ragan was struck and killed by returned fire from police.
With the suspect neutralized, the tactical team breached the house by deploying flashbangs and confirmed he was killed. Two adult women and three children were rescued from the hostage situation and were unharmed according to the outlet.
#BREAKING: OKC Police say convicted felon Kavon Ragan was responsible for shooting an OKC Police sergeant yesterday, igniting an hours long standoff. The sergeant has been identified as Joshua Scott. He’s been with the department for eight years. Ragan was shot and killed by an… pic.twitter.com/UtFVmEYLfz
— Johnathon Hayes KFOR (@JohnHayesNews) July 3, 2024
As of this report, the cause of the initial disturbance is unknown. According to reporter Johnathon Hayes with KFOR, a U.S. Marshals Task Force also participated in the incident and returned fire at Ragan, who was identified as a convicted felon.
Hayes reported that the officers involved are now on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of an internal investigation related to the shooting. The outlet noted that several homes and entire blocks were evacuated to prevent anyone from leaving the area.
In a press conference following the incident, OCPD Chief Wade Gourley told reporters, “I hate that he’s having to be in the hospital and spend time there right now and he is injured. But in the scheme of things, he’s going to be OK.”
Gourley also defended the conduct of the incident explaining the de-escalation steps taken, saying, "They’re trying to communicate and talk to this person and get them to come out of the residence and make sure that the people inside are safe. That is classic de-escalation. Negotiation is de-escalation, and what they’re trying to do and ultimately what they wanted out of that.”
He went on to tell reporters that the suspect was "threatening them and continuing to fire on them while we were trying to negotiate with him,” adding, “The suspect controls a lot of that. In this particular incident, he made a choice that wasn’t what he was going to do.”
He also lauded the responding officers, saying, “Those guys that were out there on that scene, those officers, the men and women of our tactical unit, I think are the best in the country. They train regularly for those types of scenarios.”
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Comments
2024-07-06T18:27-0400 | Comment by: Don
Unfortunately, the de-escalation methods failed. These are not 100% effective. All I can say is OCPD; the job was done well. And prayers for the wounded Officer and the Officer's family.