By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
EL RENO – An inmate died this week after being found unresponsive at the Canadian County Jail.
Yukon’s Wade Stanley Womack, 78, was pronounced dead about 10 a.m. July 7 at an Oklahoma City hospital.
“We found him unresponsive in his cell at 3:30 a.m. Thursday,” Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said. “We had conducted a site check about 15 minutes before that and everything seemed fine. We went into the cell, did CPR and called for an ambulance.”
Pafford EMS took Womack to St. Anthony’s Hospital in El Reno before he was transferred to Oklahoma City where he died.
“We don’t believe that anything happened in the jail or there was any foul play,” West said. “He was in poor health when he came. We really didn’t want to keep him because of his health condition.
“We’ll wait and see what the ME (Medical Examiner) determines as the cause of death. But I think it’s going to be related to his health condition, before he ever came in.”
Sheriff West did say the Canadian County Jail staff and nurse had wanted Womack transferred to a medical facility for care, but Womack was remanded to the county lock-up.
“His defense attorney did the same thing – they tried to get them to release him to a facility that could take care of him,” he said.
Womack was being held at the Canadian County Jail on three counts of use of a vehicle in the discharge of a weapon and one count of planning to perform an act of violence.
The felony charges stemmed from a June 19th shooting in the 14200 block of N Frisco Road.
Womack had appeared July 6 at a preliminary hearing in Canadian County District Court with his attorney, public defender Karla Tankut.
After hearing testimony from witnesses and reviewing pleadings, Special Judge Khristan K. Strubhar granted the District Attorney’s Office’s motion to hold Womack in the custody of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office without bail.
The judge found “by clear and convincing evidence, that proof of guilt is evident, and the presumption thereof is great,” according to the court minute.
“The court further finds that no condition, or conditions, of release will reasonably assure the safety of any other person in the community. In addition, the court finds that no conditions of release will reasonably assure (Womack) will appear at his next court hearing.”
In granting the motion to order the defendant held without bond, Judge Strubhar cited his “failure to follow orders from law enforcement, doctors and family members”.
Defense attorney Tankut had argued for Womack to be transferred to a medical facility for treatment. Assistant District Attorney Austin T. Murrey objected.
SHOOTING INCIDENT
The Canadian County District Attorney’s Office on June 29 formally charged Womack for his role in the June 19 incident investigated by Oklahoma City Police. The N Frisco Road home has a Yukon address but is in Oklahoma City limits.
A shootout followed an altercation between Womack and a victim’s son-in-law, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by an Oklahoma City officer.
Prosecutors alleged Womack had discharged “numerous rounds from a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol using a white Dodge Ram truck, all in conscious disregard for the safety” of three separate victims.
Womack devised a “course of action intended to cause great bodily harm or death to several persons,” according to the charging document signed by ADA Murrey.
Womack was accused of retrieving and gathering “multiple firearms and rounds of ammunition from another location” so he could return later to the N Frisco Road residence to “open fire on the people gathered there” with the intent to carry out this malicious violent act.
Court records identified the alleged victims as residents of Yukon, Piedmont and Edmond.
“(H)e fired several rounds from a rifle from the driver’s seat of his truck while in the driveway, then fired several more rounds toward the house and other people at the pool as he continued to drive slowly toward the house,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
After Womack began firing, the victim and his son-in-law reportedly started shooting back “to protect themselves and their families.”
There were six people at the house when Womack fired at the property and all three of his firearms were found in his truck, the court affidavit shows.
