Detectives Billy Jenkins and Chad Allen, shot three children in the head and face (ages 1, 4, and 5) while pursuing a suspect that robbed a pizza shop in Hugo, Oklahoma.
The detectives were driving an unmarked vehicle as they were chasing down the suspect 21-year-old William Devaughn Smith through Hugo. The officers were also in plain clothes on that day meaning Smith may not have known the two men approaching his vehicle with guns were police officers.
Smith, who police suspected had robbed the store and was later charged with the robbery, was driving a pickup truck with his sister, Olivia Hill, and her four children as passengers when Jenkins and Allen began to approach the pickup on foot, police reports state.
The report also states at this point Hill exited the vehicle and Smith “accelerated rapidly backwards,” striking Jenkins before both detectives opened fire on the truck.
Billy Jenkins and Chad Allen, were placed on leave following the April 26 shooting, but have since returned to work after being cleared by an internal Hugo Police Department shooting review board, according to Hugo Police Chief John Mitchell.
