TULSA — A Tulsa immigrant who was fatally shot outside his apartment bled for nearly half an hour while his family tried unsuccessfully to reach emergency services due to a language barrier, according to police.


Apparently, none of them had ever heard of 911 emergency service, said officer Jason Willingham.

"I don't think we'll ever know whether this guy would have survived or not with that 30-minute window if we could have got to him sooner," Willingham said.

Ociel Sanchez, 22, was taking out the garbage outside his east Tulsa apartment about 10:30 a.m. Sunday when a man approached him and shot him in the abdomen, Willingham said.

Police think the shooting may have resulted from a robbery, but the motive remains unclear.

Sanchez was able to walk back inside his apartment, where his family frantically tried to call hospitals to get help. It was a full half-hour before they were able to reach emergency dispatchers, who used a translator to communicate with the Spanish-speaking family.

When officers arrived, Sanchez was lying dead on the floor.

The shooter is described as a young black man in his late teens or early 20s, about 6 feet tall with an acne-scarred face. He was last seen wearing a black or dark blue hooded sweatshirt, khaki pants and white tennis shoes.

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