Local man indicted by grand jury for 2023 slayings

A federal grand jury has indicted a 21-year-old man who allegedly shot and killed two people, and wounded a family member last year.

According to court documents there were filed Feb. 13 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Jordan Michael Hensley shot and killed John and Tiffany Thompson October 2023 and shot and inured a family member, Danielle Yvonne Pritchett.

Officers were dispatched to a house on West Choctaw Street after 8 p.m., Oct. 18 for reports of a shooting. Hensley had fled the area on foot before officers arrived and a perimeter was set up in the area.

His whereabouts were unknown for a significant amount of time before he was spotted at Braum's on East Downing Street by off-duty Officer Ohavyah Soto. Hensley reportedly struck Soto in the face when she approached him, and he fled.

Hensley was spotted near Cherokee Elementary but was gone by the time officers arrived. Northeastern State University Police sent out a campus alert post via Facebook and email and advised students to stay indoors and to report any suspicious activity in the area.

Hensley was found on North Grand Avenue and taken into custody. Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King said Hensley exercised his right to an attorney and was booked into the Cherokee County Detention Center on tribal charges. two counts of first-degree murder, shooting with intent to kill, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm in commission of a felony, assault and battery on a police officer, and then a warrant for knowingly concealing stolen property.

Tahlequah Police Department, Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and District 27 District Attorneys Task Force all assisted in the search of Hensley.

According to the indictment, a federal grand jury charged Hensley with two counts of murder, assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm, four counts of use, carry, brandish, and discharge of a firearm during and in relations to a crime of violence, and two counts of causing the death of a person in the course of Title 18 U.S.C.

Hensley’s arraignment is slated for Feb. 20 at 2 p.m.