TULSA---A video appears to show a man threatening to shoot and kill a theft suspect wanted for stealing golf clubs in Tulsa Wednesday, but police have not charged the man with the gun.
The incident happened outside Golf Galaxy near 71st and Mingo. The theft suspect is Devon Montgomery, 24. He suspected of taking the golf clubs from a nearby course and trying to sell them.
He was meeting a potential buyer at the location when the armed owner of the clubs caught up to him, Tulsa police said.
John Fields works at a store in the same shopping center and recorded the incident on his smart phone.
"He said several times he was going to kill him," Fields said of the man with the gun. "I started recording it, hoping it would get him to not shoot the guy."
The man with the gun identified himself as an officer multiple times, later saying he is retired, however Fields said he was struck by the man's aggression when he did not seem to be in any imminent physical danger.
"[The theft suspect] wasn't aggressive at all. It was the older man who is aggressive," Fields said. "The young guy had his hands up and he was pulling away."
Onlookers begged the man with the gun not shoot the suspect. Montgomery was arrested after police arrived.
Officer Jeanne MacKenzie with the Tulsa Police Department has watched the video. She said it alone is not enough to bring charges against the theft victim.
"I don't know what occurred prior to the video being shot. I don't know if the suspect threatened that gentleman," she said.
Officer MacKenzie said the man with the gun is not a Tulsa officer, but police believe he may be a retired fire marshal from another area.
"He could consider himself a police officer depending on what kind of training he had," she said.
Because he was the victim of a crime, police would not release his identity.
Fields was shocked at what he called an overreaction to the theft saying theft of golf clubs should not have been met with a gun drawn and death threats.
"It's just upsetting that people can get away with something like that and apparently he did get away with it," Fields said.
Police said it will investigate the incident only if someone makes a formal complaint against that man.
Watch the video below. It includes explicit language.
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