| Updated: 1/24 10:07 am |
Published: 1/23 2:54 pm
|
A Tulsa teen accused of murdering his mother is in jail.
Police surrounded a location in the 5600 block of S. Boston Avenue on Wednesday afternoon.
Homicide detectives say they received a tip in the morning and set up surveillance to confirm Henry "Hank" Laird was there before they approached the house. He peacefully surrendered.
Police arrested suspected accomplice, Josiah Sklar, 19, early Wednesday morning. He told police he was there when Laird killed his mother.
Arrest reports show Laird beat his mother at least 20 times in the head with a butt of a shotgun.
Laird is charged with first degree murder for the death of his mother, Linda Laird. She was found dead in her home near 71st and Yale on Tuesday.
As Tulsa Police Special Operations Team officers put away their weapons, neighbors watched from outside of the neighborhood.
"Everything was blocked off in the neighborhood and I couldn't get to the house," said Gregg Hanner.
Moments later they saw Hank Laird in the back of a patrol car.
"Seeing him leave the neighborhood was the first time I had ever seen him before,” said Hanner.
The Hanners never thought a murder suspect was hiding in a house across from his home.
"That's just scary, really scary,” said Janelle Hanner.
Once police cleared the scene, police dropped off a man at the home where Laird was hiding out.
FOX23 News wanted to know what he knew about Laird.
The man identified himself as Tony Schlieker who said he was asleep when Laird came over last night.
"I woke up, walked out the back and that's when I saw police and they said ‘put your hands up,’” said Schlieker.
The man at the door says he didn’t know Laird was suspected of killing his mother, Linda Laird.
"He would have left then. He wouldn't be here. To target your mom, the person that raised you? That's not cool at all,” said Schlieker.
He says he met Laird a few weeks ago through another friend and thought Laird was odd.
"He would talk to himself, when nobody else was talking to him. That was weird to me,” said Schlieker.
He said he didn’t think Laird was violent and never talked about his mom.
“I couldn't even understand half the time what he was talking about, he would talk in circles,” said Schlieker.
Schlieker was questioned by police but not arrested.
Police have not released who tipped them off about Laird’s whereabouts at the home.
However, neighbors say they have had problems with this home in the past.
“We are fed up with people moving in and out at two or three in the morning,” said Hanner.
Another member of the homeowners association says they’ve called police for two years about the suspicious activity going on at the house.
“There have been a number of us taking down license plates of people coming and going,” said Gregg Hanner.
FOX23 News asked Schlieker about the problem.
FOX23’s Abbie Alford: “You know your neighbors don’t like you very well?”
Schlieker: “I know that’s right. Cause we are popular.”
Neighbors say they’ve voiced their concerns with the landlord yet police continue to get called to the home in the 5600 block of S. Boston Ave.
“Since they have moved in we’ve got security systems,” said Janelle Hanner.
Two other men in the home were also arrested on outstanding warrants not connected to the murder.
Laird is charged with first degree murder for the death of his mother, Linda. She was found dead in her home near 71st and Yale on Tuesday.
Laird and Sklar are being charged with murder and are being held without bond.
