What a shocking tradgedy to strike O.T. Fears and his family.  He recently fished the Bassmaster Classic &  finished 6th.  He is well know here in the NW as being a very approachable angler who was more than willing to talk and offer advise to any who asked for it.


SALLISAW, OK. — The shooting is over, the suspect is in custody, but the terror of a rampage that killed two people lingered Sunday in this eastern Oklahoma city of 8,000. Amid a cold drizzle, authorities traced the shooter's 20-mile trail of fear thatl eft two people dead and eight injured.
Dead are:     Patsy Sue Wells, 61, of Sallisaw. Reba Spangler, 68, of Fort Smith, Ark.
                  
Injured are:  Elvie Gene Wells, 64, of Sallisaw; Gregory Caughman, 29, of Sallisaw
                   and his 2-year-old daughter; Jimmy Nunn, 58, of Muskogee; Ernest McMahon,                         44, of Muskogee and his wife, Sharon, 45; Matthew Christopher Tabor, 27, of                           Gans; and Linda Dutton, 26, of Muldrow.
All of the injured are expected to recover.

Daniel Hawke Fears, an 18-year-old senior at Sallisaw High School, remained under suicide watch Sunday in connection with the shootings. He faces numerous charges including murder, shooting with intent to kill, discharging a weapon from a moving car and malicious injury to property.

Two counts of first-degree murder are expected to be filed today, but prosecutors said it would be a few days before all charges are filed.
Sequoyah County District Attorney Dianne Barker Harrold said Fears didn't show remorse when authorities talked with him Sunday.
His attorney, Monte Johnson, said he will request a competency hearing. "I'm not sure he comprehends everything," Johnson said.  Johnson said Fears appears to be suffering from undiagnosed depression. "It looks like he (Fears) self-medicated himself with unprescribed prescription drugs right before shooting," Johnson said. Johnson described his client, who didn't have a juvenile record, as a very intelligent B-average student.
Nicci Alworden, a sophomore at Sallisaw High School, described her classmate as a quiet person who kept to himself.
Kym Koch, spokeswoman for the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said Sunday the shootings are still under investigation, and authorities aren't sure what sparked the attack.
"We have heard the different theories, but we just don't know," Koch said.

The incident began about 5:05 p.m. Saturday in a middle-class neighborhood northeast of Sallisaw and ended about 5:25 in Roland, 20 miles east of Sallisaw.
Koch said Fears allegedly was driving recklessly through the neighborhood and almost hit several children playing on Davis Drive.

Gregory Caughman, 29, of Sallisaw was parked in a truck with his 2-year-old daughter outside his parents' home on Hazel Street, which intersects Davis Drive. Caughman yelled at Fears and told him to slow down, Koch said.  Koch said Fears said something back to Caughman and then broke into the nearby house of his father, O.T. Fears.
Koch said Fears' parents were divorced and he was living with his mother.
"Fears broke into his father's house and stole a 20-gauge shotgun and birdshot," Koch said. "He allegedly shot Caughman in the back, and the stray pellets struck Caughman's daughter."
Caughman and his daughter were taken to Sequoyah Memorial Hospital; Caughman
was in satisfactory condition Sunday with wounds to his back and neck. His daughter was treated at the hospital and released, Koch said.

During the commotion, Patsy Sue Wells, 61, and her husband, Elvie Gene Wells, 64, who lived next door to O.T. Fears, went outside to speak to the teenager about his driving, Koch said.  Koch said the Wellses are the grandparents of the children Fears had almost hit moments before.  Patsy Wells was killed with gunshot wounds to the leg and face, Koch said. Elvie Wells was shot in the chest and taken to St. Edwards Mercy Medical Hospital in Fort Smith, Ark., where he was listed in fair condition Sunday night, Koch said.

Koch said Fears drove down U.S. 64 to Sallisaw Pontiac/Buick/GMC and allegedly shot Reba Spangler, 68, of Fort Smith, Ark., in the head.  Ronnie Boswell of Muskogee, owner of the dealership, said Spangler was at the dealership shopping for a new truck for her son.
Car salesman Jimmy Nunn, 58, of Muskogee turned to run when he was shot in the chest, knocking him off the curb into the street. He was then shot in the back.  Nunn was listed in fair condition Sunday night, Koch said.

Fears continued east on U.S. 64 and shot two people looking at lawn ornaments outside Haggard's, a statuary store three miles east of Sallisaw, Koch said.  The owner of the store, who declined to be identified, said she had closed the store five minutes before the shooting occurred.  The owner said she saw three people looking at statues, but decided against unlocking the gate.  Choking back tears, the owner said, "My husband told me if I hadn't left, I could have been shot." One of the customers, Ernest McMahon, 44, of Muskogee, said he heard a pop and saw his wife, Sharon, 45, fall to the ground, Koch said.
"He took a step toward her to help and then he fell down," Koch said. "They were both shot by the same blast."  The couple were listed in satisfactory condition Sunday at Sequoyah Memorial
Hospital.
Fears continued driving east on U.S. 64, shooting randomly at passing vehicles, Koch said. He shot Matthew Christopher Tabor, 27, of Gans near the town's exit, Koch said. Tabor was hit in his left arm and chest while driving his truck. He was treated at Sparks Medical Center in Fort Smith, Ark., and released, Koch said.

Koch said Fears continued east toward Muldrow, where he shot Linda Dutton, 26, who was walking along U. S. 64 with her 9-month-old child and her 5-year-old daughter.
Koch said Dutton remained in Sparks Regional Medical Center in fair condition. The children were not harmed.

Koch said Fears ran a roadblock near Old Water Road east of Muldrow. Koch said officers fired shots, but Fears was not hit.  As he entered Roland, he veered off the road and began to head east in the westbound lane of U.S. 64, Koch said. She said Fears lost control of his pickup, crossed the median and ended up in a ditch on eastbound U.S. 64.
Surrounded by Oklahoma Highway Patrol troopers and Sequoyah County sheriff's deputies, Fears tossed his shotgun out the window, stepped out of his pickup and dropped to the ground, Koch said


                  

Some of you may remember when O.T. was here as a special guest for the jamboree.  He told me he was looking forward to the end of the jamboree, since his son was coming to join him and they were going fishing with Jeff Boyer on the Columbia for SMB and sturgeon. 
When I talked to him later the next year at the Seattle Sports Show, (where he dazzaled all who saw his famous rolling flip cast) I asked him about the fishing trip. He commented on how much he and his son had enjoyed the fishing - especially fishing for them ugly NW Columbia River "catfish cousins", the Sturgeon.

I was talking with Byron Velvick last night and he mentioned that he thought O.T.'s son had been released from prison.  I checked and found the following update:

SALLISAW, Okla. (AP) -- A Sallisaw man who killed two people, including an Arkansan, and wounded eight during a 2002 shooting spree in eastern Oklahoma will not be released from a secure mental hospital where he's been held since 2007.

A Sequoyah County judge refused to release 27-year-old Daniel Hawke Fears for weekly treatments at a nearby unlocked mental facility. The Tulsa World reports that District Judge Jeff Payton found that Fears can receive the recommended therapy at the Oklahoma Forensic Center in Vinita where he's currently being held.

Killed in the Oct. 26, 2002, shooting were 61-year-old Patsy Wells of Sallisaw and 68-year-old Reba Spangler of Fort Smith, Ark., who was at a Sallisaw auto dealership.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Fears' initial murder conviction and found him not guilty by reason of insanity.

Perhaps it will give O.T. some relief from the agony he feels about this act of his son.