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Tulsa Police Officer D.A. Roberts was on patrol when he heard a stolen car report at 12:03 a.m. on Oct. 7, 1966.

Roberts saw the white 1964 convertible with the same tag number as the stolen car at Oklahoma Street and Lewis Avenue at 12:05 a.m. He later testified that he radioed Patrol Sgt. John Jarrett that he was following the car.

Roberts activated his red light and siren and pursued the car as Jarrett set up a roadblock on North Lewis Avenue. To avoid the roadblock, the stolen car’s driver turned east, pulled into the parking lot of the Perry Food Market, 55 N. Lewis Ave., and struck a parked pickup truck.

Exiting from the disabled car, 17-year-old Francis Merle (Donnie) Hunter took off on foot. Roberts jumped out of his patrol car and shouted, “Police officer, stop,” he testified, but the youth kept running.

Roberts testified that he fired two warning shots into the air and shouted again for the suspect to halt, but he continued running, the Tulsa World reported on Oct. 12, 1966. (A Tulsa Tribune story said the warning shots were fired into the ground.) Roberts said he then fired two .38-caliber rounds at the suspect.

Hunter was shot in the back and died two minutes after the police chase started. An ambulance was called, but it was too late.