A Pottawatomie County deputy fatally shot a Prague area resident after he and other deputies responded to a domestic violence disturbance call last weekend.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said that deputies responded to a domestic disturbance call at 8010 Sherman Road around 8:40 p.m. Friday night. He said as three deputies arrived, one encountered two victims sitting in a vehicle a little ways from the home and he stayed with them.
The sheriff reported that two other deputies went towards the residence and the suspect, identified as Jeremy Loving, 39, “ran towards one of my deputies with a knife. He apparently tried to stab the deputy with the knife which went under his protective vest and the other deputy fired multiple shots at Loving and they proved fatal.”
Booth said Loving was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Booth said the one deputy thought he had been stabbed, but when he took off his protective vest to check for wounds he discovered he hadn’t been wounded after all.
“At some point there apparently was a chainsaw involved in all of this, but I don’t know what all that was yet,” Booth.
Booth pointed out, “I believe that was his residence,” referring to where the officers responded for the call. “I believe we have dealt with him before,” the sheriff added.
He said, “All three of those deputies involved in the call, who have not been identified, were sent home until we decide to call them back.”
As he was responding to the scene of the shooting, Booth stated that he called the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. He said several other deputies arrived on the scene later as did officers from the Kickapoo Tribal Police, McLoud Police Department and an Earlsboro officer.
He stressed the scene was secured by law enforcement officers and the crime scene was expanded to ensure no evidence was compromised.
“The OSBI is now investigating the case,” he said. “They will turn over their findings to the district attorney’s office when they are finished with their investigation,” Booth explained.
According to court records, and Booth confirmed the information, Loving was charged in Pottawatomie County District Court on May 4, 2022 with seven felonies and two misdemeanors.
The felonies include child abuse by injury, two counts of child neglect, one for larceny of automobile and three for kidnapping. The misdemeanors were for obstructing an officer and assault and battery on a police officer.