| Updated: 3/08/2012 10:00 am |
Published: 3/07/2012 9:47 pm
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A wedding on the Tulsa County Courthouse plaza ended after a man opens fire and shoots a deputy Wednesday afternoon.
"We just got away as soon as we heard the shots being fired,” said Reverend Angela Reudelhuber, the minister who was performing the marriage ceremony.
The shooting happened around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the Tulsa County Courthouse Plaza at 5th and S. Denver.
Tulsa Police are taking over the investigation and say 23-year old Andrew "Joe" Dennehy opened fire on the deputy.
Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office reports Dennehy was pacing the plaza, when he was confronted by deputies. They say he started shooting, and a bullet hit a deputy in the hands.
Deputies returned fire, and Dennehy was critically wounded. A bystander was hit by the crossfire. Both the bystander and the deputy are recovering and expected to be okay. Dennehy is in intensive care.
Dennehy has a criminal past. Records show he’s never spent time in prison, but received several deferred or suspended sentences and had other charges dropped.
Records show in 2007, when Dennehy was 19, he was convicted of carrying a firearm while under the influence in Creek County, a misdemeanor. Also in 2007, in Tulsa County, he received a deferred sentence for marijuana.
In 2008, in Tulsa County he was given a suspended sentence for drunk driving and in 2010, he was convicted of misdemeanor public intoxication in Okmulgee County.
Now he’s accused of firing shots in the courthouse plaza and hitting one deputy and a bystander.
"I heard three or four initial gunshots. When I got there I hid behind another planter with another individual,” said courthouse employee Ash Jones.
He was coming back from getting coffee at the café inside the Mayo Hotel.
"He [Dennehy] was pacing around. Then the deputies exited the building and commanded he drop his weapon. He proceeded to stand up and fire aimlessly at the courthouse and hit one of them,” said Jones.
"We just heard shots, my small group we ducked down really low and got back inside,” said Rev. Reudelhuber.
When she ran into the library she said it was chaos.
"Everyone around me started panicking and running,” she said.
Other witnesses started capturing pictures from cell phones and cameras.
Records show the shooting suspect’s brother, Brian Dennehy, was killed in a gunfight with a Tulsa police officer in August of 2005.
Brian Dennehy was wanted by police in Oklahoma City for beating his 81-year-old grandfather to death.
When stopped by Tulsa police at 51st and Harvard, Dennehy fired shots at a homicide detective who shot back killing Brian Dennehy.
Investigators say it was another Dennehy in Wednesday’s shootout, but a similar scene.
Ash Jones says it was all surreal and unforgettable.
"I wasn't concerned about getting hit in my mind I was just kind of there. It was very a mindful moment. You are just seeing the events go by and nothing else is going on up here,” said Jones.
