
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, December 18, 1993                   TAG: 9312180184
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Associated Press
DATELINE: HUGO, OKLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

GUNMAN KILLS 2 SHOPPERS, HIMSELF

In a month of fatal shootings, a man who complained to the county sheriff's department about a neighbor shooting his dog bought a semiautomatic rifle Friday, then later opened fire in a Wal-Mart parking lot, killing a couple and then himself, authorities said.

The rampage came the day after four people died in shootings in Idaho and Michigan, in the same week that four died in a Colorado shooting, and 10 days after six were shot to death in a New York City-area train.

Three others were injured Friday at the Wal-Mart in southeastern Oklahoma.

The gunman drove into the store's parking lot, calmly got out of his truck and shot toward the store's entrance, officials said. After firing what witnesses say were up to a dozen rounds, he got back into his truck, drove to a nearby ballpark and shot himself.

"It was short, but they were powerful shots. I thought it was an explosion at Wal-Mart," said Carolyn Allensworth, 46, of Rufe, Okla.

Mary Lou Wilkins, 28, who works in Whittaker's Pawn Shop in the shopping center, also spoke about the noise the gun made.

"There was fire coming out of the end of it," Wilkins said. "It sounded like a sonic boom."

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kym Koch identified the gunman as David Mack Flinn, 39, of Grant, about five miles south of Hugo.

Authorities identified the dead shoppers as Luke Sheehan, 52, and Mary Sheehan, 47, a married couple from Hugo.

"It looks like a random killing, but we're looking at all possibilities," said Koch.

Flinn was starting a catfish farm in a large pond near the mobile home house where he had lived since moving back to Grant several years ago. A former employee, Tommy Cassidy, said Flinn often shot at birds that ate the fish and kept lots of Dobermans and German shepherd dogs to keep people from fishing.

Assistant District Attorney Larry Grant said Flinn had a record of eight felonies, mostly burglaries and dealing with stolen property. He had committed one violent crime in 1979 in San Bernadino, Calif., and had not been arrested since 1987.

The first authorities knew of Flinn's discontent was Friday morning, when he went to the Choctaw County Sheriff's Department to complain about a neighbor who he said had shot one of his Dobermans.

Flinn was agitated and told deputies, "I'll prosecute this myself."

Grant said Flinn bought a .223-caliber semiautomatic Norinco assault rifle at Foley's Pawn Shop between 9 and 9:30 a.m. The weapon came with a 15-round clip, and Flinn bought three additional 30-round clips, Grant said.

Flinn opened fire in the shopping center at 11:15 a.m.

Agents searched the home of the single, unemployed man and found a .22-caliber rifle but nothing that suggested a motive for the shooting, authorities said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB