Suspect held after Chinese nationals ‘executed’ at Oklahoma marijuana farm
Suspect Wu Chen apprehended by Miami Beach police after a car tag reader ‘flagged the vehicle he was driving’
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A 45-year-old suspect has been apprehended by investigators in Miami, Florida in connection with the “executions” of four people at a marijuana farm in rural Oklahoma on Sunday night.
Four people were found dead and one was injured following a reported hostage situation in northwest Oklahoma, the state’s bureau of investigation said on Monday.
On Tuesday night, Wu Chen was taken into custody in Miami Beach, Florida.
He was apprehended at 4pm local time by Miami Beach police after a car tag reader “flagged the vehicle he was driving,” the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.
The bureau had earlier said that the Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance after deputies responding to the hostage incident on Sunday night found four dead and one injured west of Hennessey, about 55 miles northwest of Oklahoma City.
Authorities said at the time that they are investigating the deaths as a quadruple homicide.
The deaths of the victims, described as Chinese nationals whose identities have not been disclosed, were dubbed “executions” by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
The victims comprised of three men and one woman. The injured man, also a Chinese citizen, was airlifted to a hospital with unspecified wounds, said the bureau.
Mr Chen is being held at the Miami-Dade County Detention Center, awaiting extradition to Oklahoma. He is expected to face charges of murder and shooting with intent to kill.
On Sunday, he had remained “inside that building for a significant amount of time before the executions began,” the authorities said.
The victims’ families have yet to be notified due to “a significant language barrier”.
“Don’t know if they’re related or if they’re co-workers, but certainly these individuals were, we believe, all familiar with each other,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Cpt Stan Florence told the Associated Press on Monday.