6:03 p.m. Wednesday:
According to investigators the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office has obtained an arrest warrant for Sampson Oguntope with the charge of murder. He is currently being held at the Lubbock County Detention Center on $5,000,000 bond.
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4:55 p.m. Wednesday:
Slaton Police Chief Steven Wheeler releases new details in Tuesday's shooting death.
Chief Wheeler says around 8 a.m. a resident reported a man was knocking on doors and asking personal questions. The description of the man and his car led police to a motel in Slaton, where officers interviewed 21 year old Sampson Blake Oguntope and then let him go.
Hours later, police responding to a 9-1-1 call found 89 year-old Faye Gray dead inside her home.
Deputies took Oguntope into custody for questioning Tuesday night. He's currently held on a theft charge unrelated to the Slaton shooting.
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9:00 p.m. Tuesday: Just after 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Slaton Police received phone calls of a young woman running down the 1400 block of W. Crosby Street.
"I believe this was random, said Wheeler.
According to Police Chief Steven Wheeler, An elderly woman was shot and killed in her home. Her 24-year-old caregiver was wounded as well, but was able to flee to a neighbor's home.
"What we believe is that this subject knocked on the door and talked to them. He probably forced his way into the residence. There is not forced entry,” said Wheeler.
Chief Wheeler says the killer may have been knocking on doors in this neighborhood earlier in the day.
"We do believe that this individual may be under the influence of narcotics,” said Sheriff Kelly Rowe.
"These things happen everywhere. Just because we are a small town, doesn't mean crimes like these can occur,” said Wheeler.
This is the second homicide in Slaton in the period of just a few weeks. Last month a suspected burglar was shot and killed in a home one street over.
"It's unfortunate that we've had two incidents in the last few weeks. It's still a safe community with good people that live in Slaton. This situation may be coming from some other area besides Slaton,” said Heinrich.
For more than 20 years Lubbock County Commissioner Mark Heinrich has lived in this neighborhood. He's been friends with the woman who was killed for some time.
"They're a good family. They have lived there all their life. A real good Christian family that goes to church,” said Heinrich.
The shooting occurred one block from Slaton High School. All Slaton schools were on lockdown for almost five hours while police searched for the gunman.
"You know there was no question to lock this school down after talking to law enforcement. That's what we did,” said Slaton ISD Superintendent Jim Taliafrro.
At about 8:20 p.m. Lubbock Police arrested a person of interest in the 3600 block of Marshall. He's 21-year old Sampson Blake Oguntope. He is from the Houston area and is currently enrolled at Texas Tech.
Tech administration verifies that Oguntope is a former member of the Texas Tech Track team.
Shortly into the murder investigation, Slaton Police and Lubbock County Deputies named Oguntope and issued an alert for a white Honda Accord he was believed to be driving.
It is not known if Oguntope has a previous connection to the victims. All police would tell FOX34 is they want to talk to him and consider him a person of interest. They didn't use the term suspect.
