Oklahoma Beheading: Alton Nolen Idolized ISIS
Alton Nolen, 30, was fired from his job at Vaughan Foods in Moore, Oklahoma on Thursday and became enraged. He left the building he was in and drove to the administration building where he hit a vehicle then continued on foot into the front office area.
Nolen got to 54-year-old Colleen Hufford first.
The victim was attacked by Alton Nolen and stabbed over and over again until he managed to severe her head from her body.
“Ms. Hufford’s cause of death is decapitation due to multiple sharp force trauma to neck. Manner of death is homicide,” said Amy Elliott with the Medical Examiner’s Office.
Colleen Hufford’s death was not enough for the enraged Nolen. When she fell, he moved to his next victim, Traci Johnson, 43. He was actively stabbing her when Mark Vaughn, the company’s chief operating officer, shot him.
“He’s, obviously, a hero in this situation,” Sgt. Lewis said. “It could have gotten a lot worse.”
Witnesses agreed that if Alton Nolen hadn’t been shot, he wouldn’t have stopped and there might have been many more victims.
“Today, we mourn the loss of an extraordinary member of the Vaughan Foods family, and continue to support both the physical and emotional healing process of all those impacted by this week’s violence,” said Danielle Katcher, a Vaughan Foods spokesperson.
The terrible events put into motion by Alton Nolen have sparked fear that he may have been working independently in the name of ISIS.
Nolen’s Facebook page is set up like a shrine to the terrorist organization. He recently converted to Islam and changed his name to Jah’Keem Yisrael.
Alton Nolen’s pictures show various tributes to his new religion, including a picture of a beheaded victim with captions meant to justify the murder. In the weeks before the incident, his timeline is all about death and his religion.
Even the header of Nolen’s Facebook page shows that he idolizes the ISIS group. Still, authorities have not yet labeled him a terrorist.
The main question that has yet to be answered is whether ISIS had a hand in Alton Nolen’s outburst or if he is simply a disturbed and angry man using ISIS as an excuse for his own rage and reactions.
Alton Nolen is still hospitalized and is in stable condition, recovering from his gunshot wound. He will be charged on Monday with first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Nolen will likely face federal charges.
[ Images courtesy of Heavy Editorial, ABC News, NY Post, and SF Gate]
