A probable-cause affidavit reveals additional details about the June 9 fatal stabbing on the sixth floor of the Choctaw Casino and Resort Sky Tower parking garage.
Authorities said 51-year-old Phillip Wingfield of Atoka died after being stabbed in the head with a screwdriver by 20-year-old Antonio Latham of Denison, Texas.
Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Police patrolman Bradley Jennings responded at about 6:35 that evening and when he arrived, security was performing CPR on the victim at the sixth-floor entrance and when Jennings began CPR, he heard the suspect had pulled back up to the sixth-floor parking garage, according to the affidavit.
Lighthorse officer Julio Devora then detained the suspect, later identified as Latham.
“From surveillance footage, it is seen when Latham arrived in a white pickup truck that he had reached into the driver side door and pulled out a screwdriver,” Jennings wrote in his affidavit. “Latham and Wingfield start heading into the casino when Latham pushed Wingfield, and they began pushing each other, and Latham turned around and ran at Wingfi eld with the screwdriver in his hand and struck Wingfield in the head with the screwdriver.”
Latham was booked into the Bryan County Jail and he was charged the following day with first-degree murder deliberate intent.
Bond for Latham was set at $1 million based upon a recommendation from the District Attorney and he has a preliminary hearing conference scheduled July 17.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation assisted in the case.
In other news, the Durant Fire Department responded at 6:29 a.m. Monday to a kitchen fire in the Southeastern Student Union. When firefighters arrived, a Southeastern police officer and staff had put the fire out with fire extinguishers, according to a DFD report. The fire was in a deep fryer and the fire-suppression system did not activate. The unit was then unplugged and the gas turned off.
Firefighters were dispatched at 4:44 a.m. June 13 to an automobile fire on Old Highway 70 east of Sawmill Road. Upon arrival, the SUV was fully engulfed in flames and firefighters put out the fire. According to the report, no one was inside the vehicle and it appeared to have been abandoned.
There was a single-vehicle rollover accident at about 4:30 p.m. June 13 in the 2100 block of Lone Oak Road. When firefighters arrived, several law enforcement agencies were on scene and the driver was partially inside the vehicle. Firefighters provided aid and assisted Bryan County EMS with taking the victim to the ambulance.
A tractor and baler inside a barn caught fire June 14 at 840 E. Rodeo Road, according to a DFD report. When firefighters arrived at 6:50 p.m., the tractor was hooked to a baler that was on fire and bystanders were trying to extinguish the fire with a water hose.
The property owner told firefighters he moved the tractor out from under the barn when he saw the fire, according to the report. Firefighters hosed down a small pile of debris that was burning where the fire originally started. The baler was a total loss and tractor was damaged.
Firefighters responded at 11:17 a.m. June 11 to a boiler fire at 220 E. Texas Street. Smoke was emitting from a closet when firefighters arrived and after removing a sheet of plywood, firefighters discovered a water heater had shorted out.