Experts Weigh In On Deadly Midwest City Shooting

After a deadly shooting Friday, experts weighed in on the killing of a probation officer who was making a house visit for one of his clients.

It was a first for Oklahoma.

5/18/2012 Related Story: Police Identify Man Killed In MWC As Probation Officer

"We haven't had an incident like this since the beginning of corrections," said Joyce Jackson with the Department of Corrections. "This is a first."

Police said the victim in the shooting was Jeff McCoy. During a press conference police announced that 21-year-old Lester Kinchion was responsible for the killing.

"The suspect was assaulting Mr. McCoy," said Sid Porter, Assistant Chief at the Midwest City Police Department. "Witnesses have said Mr. McCoy was possibly even unconscious while being assaulted and after being assaulted he was then shot by the suspect."

While this was a first in Oklahoma, Criminologist and former probation officer Doctor Howard Kurtz said probation officers have a dangerous job where the unpredictable can happen on unannounced house visits.

"It's the one in a million cases where you walk in and something really bad happens," explained Dr. Kurtz. "That also creates a certain amount of tension in those situations because you don't know what people inside those homes. Often times when you do home visits, there are other people there who you know nothing at all about."

He said that seemed to be the case in Midwest City. Police said Kinchion was a roommate of the man McCoy was going to see.

"When you're doing unannounced home visits I think there's always a risk that you're going to walk in on something that the client doesn't want you to see," said Kurtz."I've known officers who have been assaulted, who've been in the course of doing their jobs and it seems like so many times it's random and unexpected and I'm not sure how you could have prepared yourself for it."

Dr. Kurtz said because this is such a rare occurrence, he doesn't expect the state to make any widespread changes to how probation officers do their jobs.