Oklahoma beheading: Attacker had just been fired from food company, police saidA woman killed in a business rampage was beheaded, a source reports. Moore police said the attacker was shot by an off-duty Oklahoma County Sheriff’s reserve deputy
FROM STAFF REPORTS • Modified: September 26, 2014 at 12:44 pm • Published: September 26, 2014
MOORE — A man fired from his job Thursday beheaded one of his coworkers and stabbed another before being shot by a company executive, police said Friday morning.
Colleen Hufford, 54, died Thursday after she was attacked by Alton Nolen, 30, who had just been fired from his job at Vaughan Foods Co., 216 NE 12, police said
Moore police have asked the FBI for assistance in investigating the beheading after employees of the business told police Nolen recently tried to convert coworkers to Islam.
Police Sgt. Jeremy Lewis said at a Friday morning news conference that Nolen had just been fired when he went into the front office and attacked Hufford. Nolen severed Hufford’s head using a knife police said he may have used at his job to cut lettuce and vegetables at the food processing plant.
After killing Hufford, Nolen attacked Traci Johnson, 43, with the same knife. Mark Vaughan, the chief operating officer at Vaughan Foods, then confronted and shot Nolen. Vaughan is a reserve Oklahoma County deputy, Lewis said.
“There’s no doubt Vaughan saved Traci Johnson’s life,” Lewis said.
Johnson and Nolen were taken to OU Medical Center on Thursday, and Lewis said Friday their injuries were not life-threatening.
Saad Mohammad, a spokesman for the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City, said leaders of the society’s mosque in northwest Oklahoma City are on alert and taking security precautions to protect the Muslims who gather there from any violence that someone might try to attempt in retaliation for the Moore incident.
Mohammad said the anti-Muslim sentiments people may have could be heightened due to the beheadings and violence being perpetrated by the Islamic extremist group ISIS overseas.
“They have this ISIS thing on their minds and now this guy has brought it to America,” Mohammad said.
Court records show that Nolen was convicted on drug-related charges and of assaulting an officer in 2011. In October 2010, Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper Betsy Randolph pulled Nolen over and attempted to arrest him on outstanding warrants. While the trooper was attempting to handcuff Nolen a struggle ensued and the trooper was assaulted. Nolen fled into nearby woods, troopers said. A manhunt involving four law enforcement agencies and two helicopters lasted 12 hours before Nolen was apprehended.
In March, Nolen was sent to the Davis Correctional Center in Holdenville where he stayed for seven months before he was transferred to the Lexington Assessment and Reception Center in Lexington, said state Corrections Department spokesman Jerry Massie. Nolen spent the final year of his sentence at the department’s Lawton and Oklahoma City community correction centers.
Massie said Nolen had no misconduct record during his time in the Oklahoma prison system. He was discharged in March 2013.
On Facebook, a woman believed to be Nolen’s sister wrote: “He is alive and doing well. Thanks to all praying warriors out there friends and family. To god be the glory! My bro is alive and just know that the devil is a lie. Please continue prayers.”
