By Traci Chapman
Managing Editor
Okarche Public School administrators and staff stepped up with support for their friends in Kingfisher Monday, in the wake of an accidental shooting that led to the loss of a high school freshman there.
Okarche Superintendent Josh Sumrall, junior/high school principal G.W. Parham, counselor Tasha Reherman and high school secretary Amie Rother traveled to Kingfisher High School Monday to deliver wristbands honoring Luke Strickland, a Kingfisher freshman who died April 7.
Rother said Reherman spearheaded the effort to find the best way to reach out to Kingfisher in its time of mourning. Reherman undertook the purchase of wristbands for the entire Kingfisher freshman class, designed with the assistance of Strickland’s best friend – wristbands inscribed with the words, “You are my brother.”
For her part, Reherman said she was inspired by the kindness of a Kingfisher student who reached out to Okarche after its own tragedy almost six years ago.
It was then, in August 2016, Okarche Elementary School Principal David Vallerand died unexpectedly. The 43-year-old was killed in August 2016 while trying to help a driver who crashed in a rainstorm on Interstate 40.
“When Mr. Vallerand died, there was a Kingfisher student – I believe she was a third grader at that time – who took her own money and got a teddy bear for each of our elementary students,” Reherman said.
Ironically, although that Kingfisher third grader later moved, she would have been a member of this year’s freshman class, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Reherman.
“I think there’s something special about that – she made such an effort, did such a sweet thing when we were really, really hurting,” Reherman said. “We were happy to be able to do something for Kingfisher now.”
In fact, the wristbands were such a hit with the freshman class that Kingfisher administrators reached out to Reherman to ask for the design and order information – so every high school student could have one.
According to reports from Kingfisher Police Department, 15-year-old Strickland died the evening of April 7, after apparently accidentally shooting himself.
The report indicated an 18-year-old was identified at the scene, who told officers he was driving a truck while Strickland rode in the passenger seat, as they shot the gun while driving out on rural roads. Patrick Roedel reportedly told officers after they finished shooting, he unloaded the gun, removed the magazine and cleared the chamber.
Strickland reportedly later asked to see the gun again and was swinging it around while listening to music; at some point, Roedel told officers he heard the magazine being put back into the gun and the slide being pulled back – before a gunshot sounded.
Roedel attempted to assist Strickland, who was trying to get out of the truck. The 18-year-old ran to get help at a nearby residence, where a woman called 911 while her husband rendered CPR.
Kingfisher police determined the shooting was accidental but Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation was called in for assistance, which is routine in such instances, officials said.
