Midwest City police searching for suspect in triple homicide

Midwest City police are looking for a man involved a triple homicide Saturday evening.

Police say Roman Rocha Pugh, 42, shot and killed three people inside duplex at 524 E. Babb Drive in Midwest City just before 9 p.m. The suspect fled on foot and is considered armed and dangerous.

Chief Brandon Clabes said officers are working around the clock to solve the first triple homicide in Midwest City’s history.

“This is an extremely unusual event for Midwest City. We have never had a triple homicide in the history of Midwest City. And this is not a random act. We know who the suspect is,” Clabe said Sunday afternoon during a press conference outside the police station.

Around 8:49 p.m., Saturday, the 911 emergency operation received a third party call about the incident. The woman said she received a call from her daughter saying she needed police to come to her house at 524 E. Babb. The caller did not know what happened but said her daughter said “something bad” had happened.

When officers arrived at the duplex, they found the back door open and three black males dead in the living room. The victims have been identified as Terrence Laval Jackson, 51, Donielle Gregory, 39, and Derrell Lyn Barksdale Jr., 39, all of Oklahoma City.

During the investigation, detectives located a female witness that was inside the duplex at the time of the shooting. She identified the suspect as her boyfriend, Roman Rocha Pugh, 42.

She said Pugh was in the living room with the three victims and she was in a back bedroom at the time of the incident. When the woman heard shots fired, she ran to get her 10-year-old daughter from another bedroom and they both fled out a window.

The woman was in her car in the driveway trying to flee the scene, when Pugh came up to the driver’s side window and told her “I’m gone.” Pugh left on foot.

“It’s just a sad situation. We have three lives that are lost. Everything seemed to be fine and then gunshots erupt and we have three dead inside the home. Luckily, we don’t have additional victims, the female and her 10-year-old daughter. We’re grateful by the grace of God that when he walked out she was in the care trying to flee that he didn’t shoot her,” Clabes said.

The cause and manner of death will be determined by the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office but it appeared all three victims suffered gunshot wounds. Clabes said he did not know the relationship between Pugh and the three victims but believed they were friends.

Pugh has a criminal record and served time in the penitentiary. An affidavit for an arrest of Pugh for three counts of first degree murder has been submitted and approved by an Oklahoma County judge.

The Midwest City Police Department is working with the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshal’s fugitive squad in attempt to find the suspect.

“We consider Pugh armed and extremely dangerous and if anyone knows his whereabouts or sees him in public, contact your local law enforcement immediately,” Clabes said.

According to the Department of Corrections, the suspect also goes by the alias “Psycho Pugh and “Romon Pugh.”

If the public has additional information, they can contact the Midwest City Police Department at (405) 739-1306.