3 Wounded, Civilians Shot Gunman At Oklahoma City Restaurant

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — Two civilians shot and killed a gunman who opened fire outside an Oklahoma City restaurant Thursday evening, wounding three. The incident happened around 6:30 p.m. at Louie’s On the Lake, a restaurant on Lake Hefner, was described as a likely "random event."

The gunman, Alexander Tilghman, 28, was pronounced dead at the scene. The two citizens who fired on Tilghman retrieved their pistols from their vehicles, Oklahoma City Police Captain Bo Matthews said at a Friday morning news conference. Tilghman was shot about 50 to 75 feet from the front door, almost in the restaurant parking lot.

It's unlikely they will face charges because they were protecting the lives of others, Matthews said. Asked if they were heroes, Matthews said: "I consider them as two people that stopped an incident that was very tragic. ... We had no idea what he was going to do after he left the Louie's restaurant."

Investigators are working to piece together a motive for the attack. Tilghman doesn't have a criminal record, and the only interaction police have had with him was during a domestic assault and battery clal when Tilghman was 13, Matthews said.

"It looked like his mind was made up that he was going to discharge his firearm once he got there," Mathews said.

Two of those who were wounded were a woman and her 12-year-old daughter who were attending a birthday party. All three shooting victims are expected to survive their injuries. A fourth person, a man, suffered a broken arm when he fell while trying to escape the restaurant and is also doing well, Matthews said.

From the evidence, it doesn't appear Tilghman knew anyone at the restaurant.

"It looked like to me it was a random event," Matthews said.

Tilghman was reportedly armed with a pistol and wearing eye and ear protective gear, Matthews said.

Initially, police thought only one civilian shot the gunman. Matthews described him as "just a good Samaritan that was there," television station WPLG reported.

It " looks like he took the right measures to be able to put an end to a terrible, terrible incident," Mathews said.

The National Rifle Association gun-rights advocacy group tweeted Thursday that the civilians "saved multiple lives" and provided "another example of how the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun."

The group said the incident should serve as a "wake-up call" for Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, who two weeks ago vetoed a bill that would have eliminated a requirement that gun holders complete a firearms training course in order to carry guns in public. The NRA supported the bill.

“I believe the firearms laws we currently have in place are effective, appropriate and minimal, and serve to reassure our citizens that people who are carrying handguns in this state are qualified to do so,” Fallin said in a statement explaining her veto.

The Hal Smith Restaurant Group, which owns the restaurant, said in a statement that the restaurant would be closed Friday and it was making counselors available to employees and customers.

"We are extremely thankful the situation didn't escalate further, and that injuries were not more widespread," the statement said. "However, our hearts are with the wounded during this incident."

Oklahoma City television station KOCO identified two of those who were shot were Natalie Giles, 39, and her daughter, Syniah Giles, 12, who were wounded as they walked into the restaurant for a birthday party. Syniah was shot in the tailbone and the bullet traveled through her stomach.

The Mustang Middle School student underwent surgery at Oklahoma University Medical Center and is being transferred to Children's Hospital. The television station said she was in fair condition Friday morning and will be hospitalized for up to a week, but her recovery will take months.

Her mother was grazed by a bullet and has been released from the hospital.

In a tweet Thursday night, Oklahoma City police said there is “no indication of terrorism at this point,” but the motive was unclear.

Police detained about 100 witnesses for interviews, reports said.

The shooting is the second high-profile restaurant shooting in as many months where a patron intervened. In April, 29-year-old James Shaw Jr. wrestled an assault-style rifle from a naked gunman at a Waffle House restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee. Four people were killed in that shooting and two others were wounded.

In April, a restaurant patron wrestled an assault-style rifle away from a gunman at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tennessee. Four people were killed in that shooting. Police have said there would have been far more casualties if it weren't for the patron's quick thinking.

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