Four people were slain execution-style outside a marijuana growing operation in rural Oklahoma. The suspect in the weekend killings, Wu Chen, was arrested by Miami Beach police and will face extradition to the state.
A license plate reader alerted Miami Beach Police officers to a car believed to be connected to the murders. Wu is suspected of committing a quadruple murder at the pot farm. He held people hostage at the farm for a significant period of time before killing his latest victims.
Authorities said three men and one woman were shot dead on a 10-acre (4-hectare) property west of Hennessey, Oklahoma. A fifth victim was wounded and taken to an Oklahoma City hospital, but had not yet been identified publicly.
According to investigators, the suspect was believed to know the victims that were involved in this mass execution.
Oklahoma voters legalized medical marijuana in 2018 and will decide whether to legalize recreational use in March. Maryland and Missouri voters approved recreational use in the midterm elections.
However, Oklahoma marijuana farms are known to be poorly regulated. Neighbors had previously expressed concern over this particular facility. They believed that the operation was doing questionable things that weren’t being checked on by authorities.
The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority said the location of the murders has an active license for a medical marijuana grow business. The property was put up for sale earlier this year for just under $1 million.
The deaths at the marijuana farm were the third mass killing in Oklahoma in a little over a month. According to a database run by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University, 40 people have been killed in mass killings in the United States this year.