Tulsa's Racist Killers Are Caught

The pictures above are of the racist killers in Tulsa that shot five innocent and unarmed African-Americans in just a few hours -- killing three of them. They are Jake England (19) and Alvin Watts (32). They were found after England tried to burn his pick-up to hide their heinous crime.

I have to offer kudos to both the Tulsa police and the town's community. These killers were caught in an amazingly short period of time for stranger killings (which can be among the hardest crimes to solve). The reason it was solved in such a short period of time is because the Tulsa Police made it known quickly that they would spare no effort in bringing the killers to justice, and the Tulsa community responded quickly with a flood of tips leading police to the culprits.

Tulsa Police Major Walter Evans, who led the task force quickly assembled to catch the killers, said, "In my 23 years of law enforcement, I don't think I've ever seen any crime as heinous as this. But at the same time, I don't think I've seen such an outpouring of support and cooperation from the community." That outpouring of support and cooperation is a good thing, and hopefully it can serve to bring the community closer together to defeat racism (or at the very least lessen its impact in the community).

There are already a few people trying to drum up sympathy for England, saying his father was killed two years ago and his wife committed suicide in front of him six months ago. I'm sorry he's had some hard times, but that in no way justifies his shooting of five unarmed strangers (of any race ). This was nothing more than a hate crime, with the victims being shot simply because they were African-Americans.

There is talk of charging the two men with a hate crime enhancement. I don't have any problem with that, but I wonder if its necessary. If I know Oklahoma, these two guys will spend the rest of their lives in prison -- if they are able to avoid the death penalty. I doubt if a hate crime enhancement will make any difference in the penalty they receive for their dastardly crimes. Hate crime or not, they have obviously given up any right to ever be free again.