Post by Scumhunter on Feb 10, 2020 2:14:43 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: tulsaworld.com)
From Tulsa World (tulsaworld.com)
In black-and-white surveillance footage from the parking lot, two men wear masks and dark, hooded jackets as they approach a midtown Tulsa convenience store on foot. But after huddling for a moment near the door, they back away.
A few seconds later, the gunman walks into the camera’s view again and enters the store without hesitation. The accomplice follows a few steps behind but, pausing for a moment with his hand on the door, suddenly turns and runs away.
Inside, the clerk was busy doing inventory behind the counter and, three days before Christmas 2011, was in a hurry to get home to wrap presents. The store was closing for the night in less than 10 minutes. And 55-year-old Peggy Gaytan didn’t seem to notice the gun pointing at her head.
In surveillance footage, the gunman fires twice before running out of the store. And Peggy drops immediately, perhaps never realizing he was there. The whole incident, from the killer entering the store to him fleeing, takes less than five seconds, with the suspects making off with absolutely nothing. Not even a candy bar.
Eight years have gone by and no arrests have been made.
Friends and family have made it an annual ritual each December to lay flowers and light candles at the Shell gas station near 36th Street and Harvard Avenue, where Gaytan had worked less than three weeks. Ironically, she had asked to transfer away from a higher-crime store, where she had survived three armed robberies.
Now she was going to start a new job right after New Year’s as a manager at a discount department store. Raising a granddaughter, she thought convenience stores were too dangerous.
“I have too much to live for,” Gaytan had told a friend. “I have my baby to think about.”
Her “baby” is now 13 years old. And still waiting for justice for the woman she called Mama.
Police have suspects but no hard evidence. To ever make an arrest, investigators will need a witness to come forward. And that’s the whole point of the annual candle lighting at the store, to remind Tulsa about the unsolved mystery and to prod someone’s guilty conscious.
Similar suspects robbed a convenience store four days earlier near 21st Street and U.S. 169, about 6 miles from Gaytan’s store. Police think they wanted to rob her, too, but the gun went off accidentally and the suspects fled in a panic.
Somebody out there knows who those suspects are and would do Tulsa a huge favor by calling Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/michael-overall-years-later-tulsa-is-still-waiting-for-justice/article_7cabb213-5787-5168-bf65-8cc2b18d95ea.html
Thoughts?
Admin Note: If you have any (news-related) updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
