ANTLERS, Okla. — Authorities have identified the man suspected of shooting and injuring two Arkansas men on Interstate 40 in eastern Oklahoma, after they helped him when the vehicle he was driving ran out of gas.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said Monday that they are searching for Lee King, who drove off from the scene of the shooting near Vian and hours later fled on foot into the woods near Antlers — about 130 miles southwest of there — after being pursued by police.
John Derek Riggs, 39, and Jake Myers, 32, who are both from Arkansas, had been shot in their vehicle and then were found lying on the interstate at about 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, the agency said.
Riggs was a former Van Buren police officer, according to the city’s police department.
The Oklahoma agency said that Riggs and Myers were seen on surveillance video at a convenience store in Vian buying a gas can and gas for King. Authorities said it's believed they were good Samaritans who were trying to help the suspect after he ran out of gas and didn't know him previously.
After the shooting, King fled in the vehicle he'd been driving, which officials said Monday matches one stolen Saturday morning in a carjacking in Oklahoma City.
At about 4:30 a.m. Sunday, a police officer in Antlers tried to pull over King because the car he was driving was stolen. King led the officer to a dead-end road and then took off on foot into a heavily-wooded area in Antlers, the agency said.
Authorities said King was last seen in Antlers around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. The agency said he's known to have connections to the Houston and Shreveport, La., areas.
According to authorities, Riggs and Myers were taken to hospitals in Arkansas, where they were in critical condition but expected to survive. One was shot in the face, the other was shot multiple times in in the torso.
Brianna Kwasnik of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette contributed information to this story.