BRISTOW, Okla. — Marvin McCoy's smile could light up a room.
The Bristow High School graduate was a star athlete, excelling in football, soccer, basketball, and track. After high school, he enrolled in Langston University.
Tulsa police said he had his whole life ahead of him, until it was cut short on May 30, 2021.
"Marvin McCoy was riding as a passenger inside of a vehicle and the driver of the vehicle is Tyronne Brown," said Tulsa Police Homicide Detective Jason White.
Police say the two were out after midnight.
"When they got to the area of about 1200 N. MLK, they were heading southbound towards the downtown area, that's when a vehicle that was traveling behind them, a dark sedan, started shooting into the victim vehicle," said White.
Trying to escape, police told 2 News the car they were driving veered out of control and ended up slamming into a power pole. The impact killed Marvin McCoy and severely injured Tyronne Brown. He is still dealing with the aftermath of his injuries to this day.
Brown's mother, Jamie Tate, said she will never forget the phone call that changed her family's life forever.
"It's hard because I want to take him out and do things, but I'm very cautious of what I do and where I go because we don't know anything about these people," said Tate. "I had just come in from out of town. I was a traveling nurse and I had just gotten home for the weekend. I got a phone call from a Detective White about 4:30 am saying I needed to get to a hospital because my son was undergoing brain surgery because he had been shot in the head," said Tate.
Frantic, she raced towards the hospital, not knowing if her son was still alive.
"When he came out, it was me, my mom, and my sister there at the time and he let us know that he was pretty severely injured and that he did not know if he was going to make it past 48 hours," said Tate.
Miraculously, Brown survived being shot in the head, and is still working hard to recover from his injuries.
"We still have a long road, but he has a lot of support," said Tate.
Tulsa police believe the shooting that took McCoy's life and injured Brown was gang-related. Detective White said they still need just a little bit more evidence to put the shooter or shooters behind bars.
"They're mothers and they want justice and so my heart goes out to the both of them, and all it takes is for somebody to have the courage to step forward and make a phone call," said White.
Anyone with information about the murder of Marvin McCoy and the injury of Tyronne Brown, is asked to contact the Tulsa Police Department, or you can call Crime Stoppers. That number is 918-596-COPS.
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