Post by Scumhunter on Aug 7, 2016 3:56:21 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: newson6.com)
From tulsaworld.com:
When Laquita Cooper first heard that her father had been shot after playing tennis at Lacy Park a year ago, she brought a blanket and pillow to the hospital. She thought her family would be camped out in the waiting room through the night while the prominent north Tulsa businessman recovered.
Instead she walked into chaos, with St. John Medical Center locked down for unclear reasons and nobody allowed to go inside. It took an hour for the lockdown to lift and for a doctor to come and tell them the news. James Cooper was dead. There was nothing they could do.
The pillow and blanket never left the car.
By that point, more of the victim’s family and friends had arrived at the hospital. None had understood the severity of James Cooper’s injuries. Nobody had told them much of anything before the doctor appeared.
“It was a wailing room,” Laquita Cooper recalled. “We were all wailing.”
James Cooper, a 62-year-old sports lover who cycled through so many business startups throughout his career that his daughter refers to him as a serial entrepreneur, met with members of his north Tulsa tennis association at Lacy Park in the 2100 block of North Madison Place on the night of July 23, 2015. He played a few matches, then headed to his Mercedes parked on the street, about a football field’s length from the tennis courts.
What happened next is unclear, but police believe that as Cooper placed his bag into the trunk of the car, a man approached him. The man shot him fives times and left, as the father of five and grandfather of five — with another one on the way — bled out on the deserted road.
“There’s a grassy field right there where he parked,” Laquita Cooper said. “There’s a few houses on the street, and then there’s woods and abandoned lots. So it appears someone came from an abandoned lot and murdered him.”
That person has never been found. Other than a few people claiming to see someone fleeing the scene — police described the possible suspect as a black man about 5 feet 9 inches tall and 170 pounds — investigators have made little progress in the investigation.
Homicide Sgt. Dave Walker likened the shooting to an assassination, calling it his unit’s most frustrating open case.
“There’s just so little. We don’t even know the reason for it,” Walker said. “It’s all speculation.”
Nothing was stolen during the encounter, leading detectives to theorize Cooper was killed for personal reasons, possibly related to his business dealings. It’s also believed the shooter may have been working with a tight-knit group to carry out the execution.
“It was unlike anything we’ve really seen here in Tulsa because usually what we do is get busy and get after it and get them quick because that’s when (suspects) are most vulnerable,” Walker said.
‘He was an open book’
James “Coop” Cooper was born in small-town Clinton in western Oklahoma but grew up in Lawton. He graduated from Lincoln University in Missouri, where he was a four-time All-American in football and track. He later attended the University of Tulsa to obtain a master’s degree in business administration.
From there, Cooper moved to Los Angeles for two years to work for Occidental Petroleum, but he returned to Tulsa as director of planning and business development for the oil and gas company. He left to become an entrepreneur and community activist, eventually going on to develop the Holley Heights subdivision in north Tulsa. Other projects included starting a mortgage company and a night club that featured acts such as Chris Rock and Cedric the Entertainer before its closure.
“He was very active in the community,” Laquita Cooper said. “A lot of people looked at him for business advice because he was an open book. He was a visionary and looked into the future. Ten years, 20 years ahead. He always asked, ‘What are your goals?’”
In his later years, James Cooper developed a special interest in tennis, winning several recreational tournaments across the nation. He also spent a lot of time mentoring and training young athletes, many of whom have gone on to earn scholarships for college. Sports remained a vital part of his life until the end, his daughter said.
‘It still feels like day one’
Hours before her father died, Laquita Cooper, an organic farmer who works from her home, had been watching news unfold of two Broken Arrow teens who were just arrested for allegedly stabbing five family members to death and critically wounding their 13-year-old sister. She remembers telling her mom she couldn’t believe how two kids could kill their whole family, not realizing that her own family was hours away from tragedy.
Laquita continued to watch as the Broken Arrow killings received extensive coverage and even national attention for the next several months, while the slaying of her father was soon forgotten.
But a year without answers and lingering fear that the killer still walks the streets has been a “daily nightmare,” she said.
“It’s hard,” Laquita Cooper said. “It’s like being knocked over by a freight train. Ran over. We still feel that way because we have no answers. We have nothing to go on. To have no information, it still feels like day one.”
Not everyone forgot, however.
A week after the shooting, hundreds of people gathered at the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in remembrance of James Cooper. What amazed Laquita at the time was the diversity of the crowd. Many of her father’s businesses and projects may have been centered in his north Tulsa community, but his reach spread all over.
“He talked to everybody. Nobody was not a friend or not welcome,” she said. “That just shows the passion that people have for someone who impacted them, regardless of his race or anything. He opened his heart to all of them.
“For us, it just showed us that he was truly loved.”
In that first week, a small group of James Cooper’s family and friends gathered at the spot where he died. They placed a small wooden cross decorated in flowers in the grass in remembrance of the man whose sudden absence overwhelmed them. Occasionally someone will replace the flowers, rejuvenating the memorial for a man whose family considered him larger than life.
Anyone with information may contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 918-596-COPS (2677), online at p3tips.com/918 or through the Tulsa Tips app, which can be downloaded from the Google Play or iTunes stores.
The homicide tip line may also be reached at 918-798-8477 or emails sent tohomicide@cityoftulsa.org.
m.tulsaworld.com/news/crimewatch/a-year-after-unsolved-murder-of-north-tulsa-businessman-police/article_dc69d608-da37-557f-8e25-7422459142af.html?mode=jqm
Thoughts?
Admin Note: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form