Truck shot, man cuffed

By James Beaty
Senior Editor

October 11, 2008 03:37 pm

— A Norman man remained in the Pittsburg County Jail late Friday in lieu of $100,000 bond after a wild night of events that resulted in charges ranging from kidnapping to shooting a pickup truck.
Ronnie Lee Austin, 33, faces two felony charges and three misdemeanors. He also had been battered hard enough during a melee that he had to take a trip to the McAlester Regional Health Center before going to jail.
In addition to felony charges of kidnapping and assault with a dangerous weapon, Austin also faces three misdemeanors.
Those charges include maliciously injuring a pickup, discharging a handgun in a public place and carrying a gun while under the influence.
On the kidnapping charge, he is accused of pulling a woman into his room at the Economy Inn at 1510 S. Main St. in the early morning darkness on Thursday, and holding her in the room against her will.
He is also accused of committing assault and battery, with the intent to do her bodily harm, with a .380 caliber handgun.
Austin pleaded innocent to all of the charges during an initial court appearance at the Pittsburg County Courthouse.
Special Judge Donnita Wynn set bond at $100,000 and scheduled an Oct. 17 preliminary hearing conference.
McAlester police had been called to the Economy Inn around 1:39 a.m. after someone called and reported hearing possible gunshots and a woman scream.
McAlester Police Patrolman Greg Read responded to the call.
When he arrived at the north end of the motel, he found a man standing near the road. He told Read he was “getting out of there because someone was shooting,” according to a police affidavit in the case.
Read then noticed a second man come from the front motel to the edge of the road.
When he placed something on the ground, “Read pulled up to him and noticed he had blood all over his shirt,” the affidavit states.
He told Read he had taken a gun away from Ronnie Austin after Austin started shooting it — and that’s what he had placed on the ground.
Read then recovered a Jimenez Arms .380 from the spot where the man had put it, according to the affidavit.
Read was also told that Austin was still inside the room.
Read asked if anyone had been shot. When the man who had taken the gun said no, Read asked about the blood on him.
He said it came from Austin, because he had to “forcibly take the gun from him and struck him several times.”
A woman then walked up to Read and told him that Austin had “grabbed her, pulled her into his room, pointed a pistol at her head and told her he was going to shoot her,” the affidavit states.
The woman said she’d also seen Austin fire a pistol at a truck in front of his room.
The woman said they’d all been at a bar earlier when Austin and another man got into a fight on the way back to the motel.
She said she had been near the front of Austin’s room trying to help the other man, who was bleeding from the fight, when Austin allegedly came out of the room and fired the gun, grabbed her and pulled her into the room and put the weapon to her head.
Another witness told Read he had seen Austin come out of the room and fire a round at the truck before grabbing the woman and pulling her into his room.
The woman had then came out of the room and told the witness Austin had pointed a gun at her, according to allegations in the affidavit.
Meanwhile, the man who said he took the gun away from Austin said that when he had went into the room, Austin had still been holding the weapon.
When Austin moved his gun arm, the man said he went for it and started punching Austin until he got the pistol away from him.
By that time, an ambulance from the McAlester Fire Department had arrived at the scene. McAlester police made contact with Austin, who was still in the room.
Fire personnel treated Austin and then transported him to the McAlester Regional Health Center for injuries to his face.
Police also recovered a shell casing near the front of Austin’s motel room and saw that the truck outside had a bullet hole in the front grill and radiator.
After getting treatment for his injuries, Austin had been transported from the hospital to the Pittsburg County Jail.
Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.