The Custer County District Attorney's Office has announced that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man accused of killing two people in a shooting spree along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma.
At a preliminary hearing last week, witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing for Jeremy Doss Hardy, 37, a Texas oilfield worker accused of shooting at several people along I-40 in a shooting spree on December 16-17, 2015.
Custer County Special Judge Donna Dirickson ruled on Friday that there was sufficient evidence to bind Hardy over for trial, and prosecutors immediately notified the defendant's attorney that they would be seeking the death penalty in the case. Both the Custer County District Attorney and the Caddo County District Attorney signed the bill of particulars signifying their intent to pursue capital punishment.
The case began shortly before midnight on December 16, 2015, when police in towns along I-40 in Canadian County and Custer County began receiving calls about a pickup truck trying to ram other vehicles and firing shots. The suspect hit one man as he and his wife drove home from the Oklahoma City airport. The man was able to pull the vehicle over to the side of the road, but he died at mile marker 93 while his wife frantically tried to get help. She testified about the ordeal at the preliminary hearing.
Hardy is accused of firing at several other drivers before he was apprehended, and one other driver was killed as she drove. Police found a woman dead in her vehicle at an interstate exit near Weatherford.
Hardy admitted that he had been drinking prior to the incident, and he was reportedly determined to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16. He has not given any motive for the shootings. When he was arrested, he denied having a gun, despite having a holster, an empty pistol magazine, five rounds of ammunition in a pistol magazine, one loose live round, and 28 empty shell casings in his truck.
An officer reported seeing the driver of the truck throw something out of the vehicle, and a 9mm pistol reportedly belonging to Hardy was found in the area.
So far, no motive has been established in the shooting spree.
Image credit: Dan Zen
