Black Mother Fatally Shot; White Man Confesses He Wanted to 'Teach Her a Lesson': Report

Last week, a white man admitted to fatally shooting a Black woman in an alley in Enid, Okla., and told police he did it to “teach her a lesson.” An investigation into the shooting is still ongoing, but officials are confident that his arrest will bring “closure” to the woman’s family.

WFTV 9 reports that 30-year-old Shane Dale Perosi is accused of maliciously gunning down 27-year-old Martika Ferguson, and is charged with first-degree murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and destruction of evidence.

The Enid Police Department hasn’t released any information as to what led up to the shooting or what “lesson” Perosi felt was worth taking Ferguson’s life, but a statement was released saying that EPD officers “responded to a report of a woman found lying in the north alleyway of the 700 block of West Nagel,” and that “the incident was initially report by residents of the neighborhood, who saw the woman lying in the alley before calling police.”

Last Wednesday, the EPD released another statement saying that “officers and members of the department’s SWAT team served a no-knock search” at Perosi’s home and that evidence was found linking him to the killing. Perosi also reportedly confessed to the shooting and expressed no remorse for what he’d done.

“During an interview with Perosi, he confessed he shot and killed Ferguson,” the statement continued. “Perosi said he’d done so to teach her a lesson. During his booking at Garfield County Detention Facility, Perosi again reiterated he had murdered Ferguson and said he was glad he’d done so. The investigation of Ferguson’s murder is ongoing.”

The statement also praised investigators who the department said, “brought closure to the victim’s family and have made our community safer with the arrest of their suspect.”

Before Perosi was identified and arrested, Ferguson’s mother, Effie Ferguson, told News 9 Oklahoma that her daughter has an 8-year-old son who is now grappling with the loss of his mother.

“It was sad, but he knows he’s got me and papa,” Effie said.

She also told reporters that Ferguson “got into a few scuffles here and there,” but that “she wasn’t bad enough to be shot.”

“My first thought was are they going to come after us?” Ferguson said, News 9 reports. “Who all are they after? What could she have done that was so awful that they would just shoot her? She wasn’t an awful girl.”

According to WFTV, investigators have not determined whether race played a part in the shooting.