Oklahoma man arrested for allegedly shooting 40+ business, car windows in multiple cities; more arrests expected
NORMAN, Okla. (KFOR) - A 22-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly shooting over 40 business and vehicle windows throughout Norman, Moore, and Oklahoma City.
John McGregor runs 'The Pickup Shop' in Norman. The small business has been around since 1982.
It was supposed to be a normal Halloween Eve, but when McGregor showed up to the shop, he said something looked off.
McGregor said one of the front windows on the shop had a spiderweb-like crack.
"First instinct was, you know, 'My goodness, did we make somebody mad?'" recalled McGregor. "We have never had something like this happen before. This was just completely off guard, something that you never imagine could really happen."
Once he took a closer look, he said he noticed a small entry point.
"It's aggravating. It makes you mad. It really gets you pissed off," stated McGregor.
To replace the window, McGregor said it cost the shop around $1,200.
"We were able to absorb the cost, but it really got down to just the timing of it. The struggle of finding a window, finding somebody that can replace such a big window at a good time, weather coming in, rain coming in. All in all, it wasn't a good thing and I wouldn't really wish this upon anybody to have to go through," said McGregor.
He wasn't sure what caused the damage at first, but saw on social media it could have been a BB gun.
Down the street is another victim who paid $485 to replace the rear window of her SUV.
"Maybe there was a malfunction with the way the temperature changed," Mary Stanley on first thought when she saw the rear window of her car was broken.
Stanley said her car could have also been shot with a BB gun.
She also wondered if her Tahoe was targeted because out of six cars in her driveway, she said only the Tahoe had a broken window.
Stanely said she hopped on social media to get an idea of what may have happened to her car. That's when she saw a flood of posts saying something similar happened to them too.
"Thankfully, we were able to get ours fixed that same day. A lot of people can't afford to do that. I can't imagine driving around in a Tahoe with kids in the back without having a window in the middle of winter," she added.
Moore Police Department Digital Media Specialist, Clint Byley told KFOR dispatch received an influx of calls on Halloween, all with the same story of busted windows.
"We sent officers to the scene and after the sheer amount of them, we started investigating," said Byley.
As of Tuesday morning, Byley said there are over 40 victims in Moore alone. There are 30 additional incidents in Norman and Oklahoma City that could be connected to this case as well, according to Byley.
No injuries have been reported at this time.
An arrest warrant was issued for 22-year-old Zachery Cox. He has been charged with 43 misdemeanors: 42 counts of vandalism and one count of shooting from a vehicle.
A Cleveland County affidavit reveals Moore investigators were able to track Cox down through video surveillance.
"Our detectives worked really hard to obtain surveillance video and footage and images of the suspect's vehicle. Essentially, we were able to use block cameras and some other equipment to get a positive identification on a vehicle and then that led to us contacting the owner and the suspects," explained Byley.
Moore investigators located Cox at his home and spoke with him, according to court records.
"[Cox] confessed to leaving his home in Pink, Oklahoma and traveling to Sunnylane Estates Trailer Park to pick up two friends who would enter his truck. [Cox] stated that they drove around the city of Moore as well as Norman and South Oklahoma City and randomly shot out windows," court documents read.
Cox "did not have an excuse for this action, only stating that it was a bad idea," the affidavit continued.
Numerous "BBs" were allegedly found in the truck "used to commit this crime."
Cox reportedly admitted to shooting all of the windows from inside the vehicle over a span of several hours.
Cox was booked into the Cleveland County Detention Center November 17.
McGregor and Stanley are shocked to find out adults were involved in this crime as they both assumed it was committed by teenagers.
"It's an adult, somebody that knows better, somebody that should be setting the standard for young people. For them to go out and choose to do something like this, you know, I think the misdemeanors are too small of charges," stated McGregor.
While Cox has been charged with 43 misdemeanors, Byley said his charges could be upgraded to felonies based on how many misdemeanors there are.
Byley said the Moore Police Department has still been receiving calls from potential victims.
"We actually got more phone calls this morning of other people who say, 'Yeah, my windows were shot out.' It's kind of amazing. Here we are, you know, two and a half, three weeks later, almost a month later, and we're still getting calls," stated Byley.
Both Stanley and McGregor are happy to see an arrest come out of this case, but they are also hoping for restitution.
"I would love to see restitution come back to us. I believe there are a lot more victims out there that need to be taken care of first. I'd like to see them have justice first," said McGregor.
Stanley said if restitution is awarded and Cox fails to make a payment, he should face additional jail time.
Only Cox has been arrested as Monday afternoon, but Byley said the Moore Police Department is currently working with the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office on two other arrest warrants in this case.