This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

More heavy rain soaks Texas as it grapples with floods that have killed 28 Read more

Oklahoma highway patrol troopers fatally shot a man who authorities say attacked officers as they arrived to help with a vehicle trapped in floodwaters.

Oklahoma and Texas have been hit by severe flooding since Memorial Day weekend, leaving 28 people dead and a dozen missing and prompting President Barack Obama to sign a disaster declaration.

On Friday night, Oklahoma highway patrol captain Paul Timmons told reporters a call was received about two men whose truck had stalled in rising floodwaters.

The men were trying to push the vehicle free, Timmons said, but were upset that troopers told them to leave the truck and evacuate to higher ground. An argument ensued and one of the men attacked a trooper, Timmons said.

“The water was already fairly deep, and it was starting to rise pretty quickly, and it was running pretty rapidly across the road,” Timmons told the local Tulsa World. “[The officers] were concerned these guys would be swept away.”

“For whatever reason, and this is where it gets a little cloudy, [the men] approached the troopers,” he said. “Shots were fired.”

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the Oklahoma highway patrol in Tulsa declined to provide any further details about the case, except to say that it was an “active investigation” and to confirm that the second man had been arrested and taken to Okmulgee County jail.

Timmons said he did not know if both troopers fired, how many rounds were discharged or whether the men at the truck had weapons. He characterized the shooting as self-defense in the face of assault, and said he did not know whether charges had been filed.