Oklahoma double-murder suspect charged with hate crime in execution-style slayings

An Oklahoma double-murder suspect has been charged with a hate crime, KOTV-DT Tulsa, Oklahoma reports.

Carlton Gilford, 61 of Tulsa, last month was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with the intent to kill in connection with two fatal shootings on April 18, one at a library and the other at a gas station.

Gilford is being held without bail.

Gilford shot and killed Lundin Hathcock at the Rudisill Library and James McDaniel at a QuikTrip minutes later, according to police.

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Gilford has since been charged with a hate crime after investigators determined that race was the motivating factor in the shootings, Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler told the television station. Gilford is Black, and the two fatal shooting victims were white.

In Oklahoma, a hate crime is called malicious intimidation or harassment, which is a misdemeanor.

"The information suggests that race played a role in it and I feel like that is something we can prove, and it is something that a judge or jury obviously needs to listen to. So we will present that information along with everything else,” Kunzweiler told KOTV.

Both victims were shot in the head from behind, and that Gilford continued to shoot McDaniel after he was already on the ground, reloading his gun and shooting him in the head for a second time, the report said.

Gilford is also seen on surveillance video firing rounds at a security guard and another person outside the store.

Arriving officers found Gilford standing outside the store, and he admitted to the shootings.

“The investigation into the two deadly shootings is ongoing at this time and Detectives are still working to learn a motive,” police wrote on the Tulsa Police Department’s Facebook page.