Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A man was shot Sunday night in Bokoshe in what is being currently claimed by the shooter as “self defense.”
According to Lt. Paul Moss, a LeFlore County Sheriff’s Department investigator, a homeowner, age 69, who is claiming self defense, ended up fatally shooting a male, Ken Cosgrove, 49, on his property on South Missouri Street in Bokoshe.
According to an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) report, Cosgroveentered the home and proceeded to physically assault the homeowner. After the altercation, Cosgrove exited the home but turned around and attempted to go back inside. The homeowner had retrieved their gun and when Cosgrove tried to go back inside, he was shot. Cosgrove died at the scene.
“I received my phone call roughly at 11 p.m. (Sunday) night to respond, and my deputies were dispatched out around 10:55 p.m.” Moss said. “I received a call saying where they were at. I was only a few miles down the road. Being Lt. and an investigator here at the (LeFlore) County Sheriff’s office, I was contacted by our dispatch center, who stated that we had a call that my deputies were responding to a potential burglary or home invasion (in Bokoshe) that had turned into the homeowner actually shooting his firearm at people that were in a truck as well as an individual who was trying to get into his house and actually assaulted him. At the time, it was unknown if he had actually struck anybody with the firearm. When deputies and I arrived on scene, there was in fact a gentleman slumped over at the bottom of the steps in the front yard. (LeFlore County) EMS (Emergency Medical Services) confirmed him to be deceased with a gunshot wound. I had my deputies go ahead and tape off and secure the scene. We requested the search warrant from a district judge in order to process the scene, and contacted the Medical Examiner’s office as well as the OSBI — investigators as well as the OSBI Crime Scene team. After that, all units and officers of the agencies went back into service.”
Moss said the homeowner was taken by LeFlore County EMS to a Fort Smith, Ark., hospital for his injuries sustained by the alleged assault but was released hours later.
Moss said the investigation is ongoing, but progress has been made.
"The case is still pending as far as the result of the investigation as of right now, but between our agencies we have made significant progress on it,” he said. “The vehicle that was shot at by the homeowner fled the scene. We have a possible ID on the two occupants who were in the vehicle, which we’re not releasing at this time, either — but we have made a break in that. We’re going to try to follow up and investigate their involvement. No arrests have been made, but the homeowner has made the claim of self defense. OSBI is an assisting agency. Bokoshe P.D. is technically the jurisdictional agency with it being on South Missouri Street, but they (Bokoshe P.D.) were limited on resources, so OSBI assisted us in the investigation.”