McAlester man charged with murder
Dec. 5—A McAlester man who was arrested following a Dec. 2 standoff in McAlester has been charged with murder in connection to a fatal shooting near Indianola.
Court records state Darius Alexander Presley, 21, is accused of fatally shooting Tonya George and shooting another woman twice at a residence in rural Pittsburg County near the intersection of State Highway 113 and Hamilton Loop.
Presley was charged Monday with murder in the first degree, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and carry firearms after conviction/during probation, according to records filed in Choctaw Nation District Court.
Jail records show Presley was being held without a bond prior to a scheduled Monday arraignment.
Investigator Alena Ashalintubbi with Choctaw Nation Tribal Police wrote in a probable cause affidavit she was dispatched to a reported shooting Dec. 2 at a residence south of Indianola in rural Pittsburg County.
Ashalintubbi wrote in her report she was told by dispatch that one person was deceased with another being transported to the hospital with gunshot wounds to the head and arm.
According to the affidavit, first responders told Ashalintubbi the surviving woman was talking and was the one that called 911.
The woman told dispatchers it was Presley who was the shooter and that he had left the residence in a white Chrysler 300 and that a .22 caliber revolver was used in the shooting, the report states.
Ashalintubbi wrote in her report the woman who was shot identified the woman that was killed as George.
McAlester Police Dep. Chief Darrell Miller told the News-Capital on Friday a standoff with Presley began after someone noticed a vehicle believed to be driven by Presley at a residence on North Ash Street in McAlester.
When police arrived, they found the vehicle empty and they focused their search on a house where the suspect was believed to stay, which was near a daycare.
Police switched their focus after a 14-year-old juvenile walked out of a different residence across the street from the original home that police first focused on during the standoff.
Presley was taken into custody without incident.
According to the report, Ashalintubbi and an agent with the FBI interviewed Presley, who agreed to speak with investigators.
Presley admitted he went to the residence with a gun and that he shot the two women and fled to the residence in McAlester, the report states.
"When he heard the address come over the scanner, he then ran to the residence across the street," the report states. "Darius said that he put the gun on a bed and told the juvenile in the home to hide it."
The report states the gun was found in the residence following a search by agents with the FBI.
Contact Derrick James at djames@mcalesternews.com
