Ex-Tulsa Police Officer's Murder Retrial: 'It Was Either Him Or Me'

TULSA, OK — Former Tulsa police officer Shannon Kepler, who is white, told jurors Wednesday he he no other option but to shoot his daughter's boyfriend, who is black, three years ago. Kepler was the last witness called in the retrial, — the fourth in the case.

He doesn't deny shooting Jeremey Lake, 19, but said he did so because he thought Lake was armed. Kepler said Lake reached into his waistband, so Kepler shot him. No weapon was found on or near Lake's body.

"He's bringing it, I'm bringing it," Kepler told the courtroom. "It was either him or me. I'm not going to stand there and get shot." (For more information on Kepler's case and other Tulsa stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Closing arguments were expected to happen Wednesday afternoon. The case will then go to the jury.

The shooting happened while Lake and Kepler's adult daughter were walking in what the ex-cop described as a crime-ridden neighborhood. Lisa Kepler had been in and out of a homeless shelter after her father barred her from bringing men into his house.

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday after jurors heard a 911 call in which Lisa Kepler screamed to dispatchers that her father had shot Lake.

Three previous juries deadlocked 11-1, 10-2 and 6-6, forcing the judge to declare mistrials.

Officers across the U.S. involved in fatal shootings of black residents have recently faced similar trials. In the past year — including in Tulsa — juries were unwilling to vote for a conviction or prosecutors were unwilling to charge officers in cases from Baltimore to St. Louis. In May, a jury acquitted a white Tulsa officer in the killing of an unarmed black man who had his hands up, which roiled the city's black community. The officer has since left the Tulsa force.

By The Associated Press

Photo credit: Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press