Tulsa Cop Fatally Shoots Down Daughter’s Boyfriend While He Was Introducing Himself

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August 6, 2014 3:57 pm - NewsBehavingBadly.com

Two Tulsa police officers, who are married to each other, were arrested in connection to the shooting death of their daughter’s boyfriend. 19-year-old Jeremy Lake was shot and killed near downtown Tulsa on Tuesday night. According to the couple’s daughter, her father shot at her, too.

Officer Shannon Kepler, a 24-yar veteran of the Tulsa police Department, is in jail on a complaint of first degree murder and shooting with intent to kill. Gina, his wife, also a police officer, is booked on a complaint of accessory to murder after the fact, according to Fox 23.

“It was definitely a premeditated, murder. How could somebody go off and kill somebody they don’t know in cold blood and just drive away?” asked 18-year-old Lisa Kepler, the girlfriend of the deceased.

Lista told Fox 23 that her parents were fed up with her making bad choices and dropped her off at the Tulsa Day Center, a homeless shelter, just last week.

It was there that she met Jeremy Lake.

Police reports say that Lisa and Lake were walking back from Guthrie Green Tuesday night when Lisa’s father drove up in his black SUV.

Tulsa World reports that Lisa said her father shouted at her and that as Lake attempted to introduce himself, Shannon Kepler shot him.

23-year-0ld Josh Mills, a friend of Lake’s, said he witnessed the shooting and said Shannon Kepler also fired a shot at Lake’s 13-year-old brother, who was sitting on the front porch. That bullet ricocheted and grazed the boy in the upper arm, according to Mills.

Mills rushed to Lake’s side and tried stop the bleeding and locate the bullet wounds. According to Mills, who has had paramedic training, it appeared Lake had been shot in the chest and neck from about 3-feet away.

“He was like a brother to me for two weeks,” Mills said with tears in his eyes.

According to KJRH, police say the couple is not cooperating with the search for the vehicle and weapon. The Kepplers are on administrative leave.

Watch courtesy of KJRH:


H/T: My BFF @ComgenKDT with thanks.

D.B. Hirsch
D.B. Hirsch is a political activist, news junkie, and retired ad copy writer and spin doctor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

55 responses to Tulsa Cop Fatally Shoots Down Daughter’s Boyfriend While He Was Introducing Himself

  1. mea_mark August 6th, 2014 at 4:09 pm

    Too many cops nowadays think they are above the law. I hope they go down real hard on them to send a message to all officers out there, you are not above the law.

    • Sargen August 6th, 2014 at 6:18 pm

      Agreed. Although in this case, the cops seems pretty justified. They dump the daughter at a homeless shelter and the next thing you know, the black employee at the shelter is sleeping with their daughter? That sounds like self defense to me, same way as if you shot and killed a high school english teacher that was doing your daughter.

      I am no fan of pigs, but these two seemed to be doing the right thing by putting down this dirty dog.

      • majii August 6th, 2014 at 6:56 pm

        I disagree, strongly. My daughter, who is black, is engaged to a white guy. I like the guy and his family, especially his mom, dad, and sister. Before I retired, she and I taught at the same high school. Even if I didn’t like her dating this guy, there would be no reason for me to shoot and kill him. Parents have to deal with their kids making choices they disagree with all of the time, but few of them go so far as to kill their kids’ boy/girlfriends. To kill Jeremy because he was black, or was older than Lisa Kepler, is beyond despicable. According to you, the dad was justified in killing him because, even though you know nothing about Jeremy Lake, he was a “dirty dog” that deserved to be “put down.” If I weren’t so astute, I’d have missed the fact that your attitude seems to indicate that you think that Jeremy Lake was a “lesser child of God” who deserved to be gunned down in the street because Lisa Kepler’s parents disapproved of him being with her.

      • schmeldo August 6th, 2014 at 7:24 pm

        People like you are why this country can’t have anything nice. You’re despicable. Racist, ignorant swine.
        majii was entirely too nice to you.

      • tiredoftea August 6th, 2014 at 7:40 pm

        Whoa, sparky, settle down there. No one deserves execution from a couple of bad parents.

      • Anomaly 100 August 6th, 2014 at 8:23 pm

        Proof that meth is a helluva drug ^.

      • ShelleysLeg August 8th, 2014 at 8:41 am

        Oh, I got it now. He was BLACK! He ‘deserved’ to be shot! And strange how ONLY you know he was sleeping with their daughter!

        Bet you liked the Tulsa race riots back in the 1920s too seeing as how they disenfranchised the wealthy (how DARE they?) black families in town.

    • tiredoftea August 6th, 2014 at 7:38 pm

      This is more bad parenting syndrome gone berserk!

  2. arc99 August 6th, 2014 at 4:13 pm

    Something about this just does not ring true. Two veteran police officers suddenly become cold blooded killers? I could be wrong, but I do not think we have the whole story.

    If nothing else, a veteran cop is going to be keenly aware that once he goes to prison, he will be the target of every inmate in the facility, regardless of the fact that murder otherwise puts you at the top of the inmate pecking order.

    • mea_mark August 6th, 2014 at 4:17 pm

      I sure hope you are right.

    • thr33phas3 August 6th, 2014 at 4:25 pm

      What “whole story” are you looking for, that would justify or even explain their actions?

    • Jeff Allen August 6th, 2014 at 4:38 pm

      I agree, there are some pretty big holes to fill in before making a judgement on this one

      • jjjj68 August 7th, 2014 at 6:39 pm

        People armed and dangerous shoot to kill people unarmed, no justification for that….

        • Jeff Allen August 8th, 2014 at 8:10 am

          Let’s hope the jury collects a little more information than that.

          • jjjj68 August 8th, 2014 at 8:47 am

            Yes, you’re right hopefully these corrupt cops and their lawyers won’t try to justify shooting a man in cold blood, shooting at a 13 yr old and shooting at their own daughter while running away.

          • Jeff Allen August 8th, 2014 at 9:19 am

            And hopefully you won’t be on the jury, because based on the initial report, you’ve got it all figured out. You might be right, but thankfully Americans aren’t convicted on news articles.

          • jjjj68 August 8th, 2014 at 9:29 am

            Yes Jeff, you’re so right about it all especially about American’s long history of having fair and impartial juries and I like the part where Americans don’t convict on news stories. Hopefully you won’t be on the jury either because you are a defense lawyer’s dream. Sounds like you are projecting your ideals on this couple being justified. A life was taken!!

          • Jeff Allen August 8th, 2014 at 9:48 am

            Thank you, I actually am any lawyers dream because so far, all I have ACTUALLY said or indicated is that more information is needed and rushing to judgement based on a news article is wrong. I have said nothing in defense nor blame of the couple, only proper use of the justice system.

          • jjjj68 August 8th, 2014 at 9:55 am

            You’re the one who brought up the legal system and I don’t need to be on a jury to say that 2 off duty cops shooting at people is at best negligible if not unethical. Police officers are trained to keep the peace not incite violence but if you are one of the para-military types then your mind-set is already in attack mode

    • uzza August 6th, 2014 at 4:59 pm

      Cops go to prison?

      • Jeff Allen August 6th, 2014 at 7:49 pm

        Yes, quite often

    • markdouglas August 6th, 2014 at 5:04 pm

      The wife was not the killer genius. And here is a clue — the daughter and a witness have basically the same story. Here is ANOTHER clue –the married couple aren’t telling where the gun or car is. SO deal with those reported facts. Too complicated? True, we don’t have the whole story, but you may need to re-read the story. No one said his wife was a killer — in fact, it said she was booked for accessory AFTER the fact. How you turned that into her being a cold blooded killer, I do not know, but you did

      • Wayne Sampson August 6th, 2014 at 8:58 pm

        I thought the witness reported that the wife took a shot at the younger brother sitting on the porch. That is attempted murder. Perhaps you should read the article.

        • Hardlee_Ded August 6th, 2014 at 11:39 pm

          “23-year-0ld Josh Mills, a friend of Lake’s, said he witnessed the
          shooting and said Shannon Kepler also fired a shot at Lake’s 13-year-old
          brother, who was sitting on the front porch. That bullet ricocheted and
          grazed the boy in the upper arm, according to Mills.”

          Shannon, the husband did all the shooting… you might have been confused by his first name… his wife’s name is Gina.

    • ChrisVosburg August 6th, 2014 at 6:59 pm

      Arc99 writes: If nothing else, a veteran cop is going to be keenly aware that once he goes to prison, he will be the target of every inmate in the facility

      Cops don’t do hard time at federal pens for precisely this reason– the probability of inmate retribution is too high. So cops go to those minimum security correctional facilities, AKA “country club prisons.”

      In the aftermath of his conviction for the beating of Rodney King, LAPD Sergeant Stacey Koon sent out appeals for contributions to his legal aid fund, as he fought through the appeals process, shamelessly claiming that he’d surely lose his life if made to serve time at a prison fulla inmates he’d help convict.

      It was bullshit, and he knew it: Koon served his 30-month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and the Federal Work Camp in Sheridan, Oregon.

      • raincheck1956 August 7th, 2014 at 8:42 am

        Club Fed…..

  3. markdouglas August 6th, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    Hard to know what happened now, but the cop may have thought his daughter would not rat his ass out, or maybe he was drunk, and started shooting to show how macho duck he was. Was he shooting people for self defense? Is that his story now? If so, why not stay there and help the victims, apparently he drove off, though it does not say that in the story.

  4. Foundryman August 6th, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    Good guy(??) with a gun plus unarmed teenagers equals wounded and dead teenagers. Again….

  5. Tommy6860 August 6th, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    These assholes were not parents, they are monsters who happened to procreate. I feel terrible for the daughter. And WTF, they drop their 18 year old daughter off at a homeless shelter because…? Potential law enforcement officers should be psychologically screened and I mean comprehensively. These are people that uphold the laws, not people who are a law unto themselves.

  6. Guy Lauten August 6th, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    Judge, jury, and executioners. “We don’t like you, we find you wanting, so we feel justified in taking your life.” Pow. Nice. Good screening there, Tulsa PD.

    • Hardlee_Ded August 6th, 2014 at 11:32 pm

      …but he was a good guy with a gun.

  7. Carolyn Finnerty August 6th, 2014 at 7:11 pm

    Administrative leave? Murderers are supposed to go to jail! SMH.

    • raincheck1956 August 7th, 2014 at 8:39 am

      I had the same thought…

  8. Carolyn Finnerty August 6th, 2014 at 7:30 pm

    Article is in the NY Daily News. Couple are being detained w/o bail. The daughter 18 had moved in with the boy 19 and his aunt.

  9. bailey78 August 6th, 2014 at 7:32 pm

    Become a Cop so you can get away with Murder.

  10. KB723 August 6th, 2014 at 11:49 pm

    At least the two officers are off the street….

  11. mea_mark August 7th, 2014 at 11:08 am

    Yee Ha, I got another flag for banning him. I wonder if he thinks that is going to do any good? I think will go approve myself now.

    • Anomaly 100 August 7th, 2014 at 11:09 am

      It’s called “Butthurt.”

  12. Morgan August 7th, 2014 at 4:54 pm

    What idiots – HONESTLY. They deserve not another waking moment of peace.

  13. NativeSonKY August 7th, 2014 at 7:41 pm

    Administrative Leave? REALLY? Cops like this should never be released back into the public.

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