Oklahoma: Suspect 'asked for $300,000' before killing four people
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A man accused of killing four workers at an illegal marijuana farm demanded the return of his $300,000 investment in the operation shortly before opening fire, prosecutors allege in court documents.
Chen Wu, 45, was charged Friday in Kingfisher County with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of assault and battery with a deadly weapon in connection with the November 20 killings.
"Eyewitnesses to the murders have stated that [Wu] demanded $300,000 be handed over to him by other employees of the marijuana operation, as a return of a portion of his 'investment' in the enterprise," Assistant District Attorney Austin Murrey wrote. "The fact that it could not be handed over on a moment's notice is what precipitated the mass murder."
In an arrest affidavit filed in the case, a worker who was at the farm on the day of the killings told investigators that a man, later identified as Wu, came into the garage and shot one man in the leg.
"The suspect held multiple people inside the garage at gunpoint,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent Phillip Ott wrote in the affidavit. "The suspect demanded $300,000 within the next half hour or he was going to kill everyone in the garage."
Another worker at the farm told investigators Wu had worked at the farm about a year earlier.
Prosecutors on Friday filed a motion that Wu be held without bond.
Killed in the attack were Quirong Lin, Chen He Chun, Chen He Qiang and Fang Hui Lee, court documents show. A fifth person, Yi Fei Lin, was wounded.
Authorities said that all of the victims, as well as Wu, were Chinese citizens.
Medical marijuana was legalised in Oklahoma in 2018, however operations must be at least 75 percent owned by Oklahoma residents.
Authorities have said that the pot farm on a 10-acre (4-hectare) property west of Hennessey was operating under an illegally obtained license to grow marijuana for medical purposes.
The application for the license by Kevin Pham fraudulently stated that the operation was 75 percent owned by an Oklahoma resident.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics spokesman Mark Woodward said: "Agents have interviewed the man who is listed as the 75 percent owner...that person has no knowledge of operations [at the farm]."
He added that the man just "went to Pham’s office for payments".
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Pham has been arrested on drug and weapons charges. Court documents do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
Woodward did not disclose the amount of the payments to the man he described as a "ghost owner" and said the man has not been arrested, but could face fraud charges.
Wu is scheduled to make an initial appearance Wednesday, court documents show. Jail and court records don't indicate the name of an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The state's motion also indicates there is a video that depicts portions of the slayings and that eyewitnesses who know Wu have positively identified him. Authorities have previously said the victims were "executed."
Wu was arrested two days after the killings on November 22 in Florida when the vehicle he was driving was flagged by a car tag reader, police in Miami Beach said.
Oklahoma authorities took Wu from Miami-Dade County jail Wednesday, and he was booked into the Kingfisher County jail on Thursday.
