Police say two confrontations separated by a brief pause ended with Myron Cooper fatally shot and Berry Russell Jr. accused of murder.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Berry Russell Jr., 54, is accused of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of 43-year-old Myron Cooper after a dispute that investigators say began around a hotel bar and moved through two separate confrontations in a north Oklahoma City parking lot.

The case has drawn attention not only because of what police say triggered the dispute, but because of the sequence investigators describe between the first fight and the fatal encounter. Court-document accounts reported by Law&Crime and Oklahoma City media say Russell initially tried to avoid another confrontation, yet also contacted his wife during the break and made a request investigators interpreted as a direction to bring him a gun. Cooper was shot later that night. Russell has described the final confrontation as one in which Cooper chased and struck him, according to reporting based on court documents. Those competing details now sit at the center of a criminal case in which the allegation against Russell has not been proven in court.

The dispute began at the Broadway Inn & Suites OKC on North Santa Fe Avenue, where a Facebook Live video reportedly captured an interaction between Russell and Cooper’s wife inside Sunni B’s Sports Bar and Grill. According to court documents described by local NBC affiliate KFOR and subsequently reported by Law&Crime, Russell could be seen whispering into the woman’s ear. The available reporting says the interaction was characterized as flirting, although the video itself does not establish what was said. Cooper saw the interaction and later confronted Russell, authorities said. What had taken place inside the bar then moved outside, where the first physical altercation unfolded in the hotel parking lot.

Police said the first confrontation became violent but was broken up before the later shooting. Russell told investigators that after that encounter he returned to the bar and intended to wait for Cooper to leave, according to accounts of the court documents. That portion of Russell’s statement is significant because it presents the period between the fights as an attempt to create distance. Investigators, however, also focused on what happened during the same interval. Russell called his own wife and told her to “come right,” according to the court records as reported by Law&Crime. Investigators interpreted that expression as a request for her to bring a gun. Police said Russell’s wife then brought him the weapon they say was later used in the shooting.

The two men encountered one another again after Russell believed Cooper had left, according to Russell’s account to investigators. Russell began walking toward his vehicle, but police say Cooper pulled up near Russell’s car. Russell told authorities he ran back toward the bar and that Cooper chased him and repeatedly punched him in the back of the head. Russell then pulled a pistol from his pocket and shot Cooper in the chest, according to the court-document account. Russell’s description of being chased and struck represents his version of the moments immediately before the gunfire. Publicly accessible reporting reviewed for this story does not establish that a judge or jury has determined whether his account legally justifies the shooting.

What happened after Cooper was shot stretched the investigation far beyond the hotel parking lot. Oklahoma City police Sgt. Dillon Quirk said Cooper got into a vehicle and drove along the highway, stopping at more than one location as calls were made asking police to check on him. Cooper ultimately reached the area of Southeast 15th Street and Interstate 35, where authorities found him in critical condition. Oklahoma City Free Press reported that the place where Cooper was located was roughly seven miles from the northside area where police said the altercation and shooting had occurred. The movement between those two locations initially left the shooting scene and the place where officers encountered Cooper separated by a substantial part of the city.

Police said they were contacted around 11:30 p.m. after Cooper reported that he had been shot. Emergency personnel took him to a hospital, and he underwent surgery. Cooper died from his injuries the following morning, authorities said. Detectives worked backward from the location where he was found and determined that Cooper had earlier been involved in the altercation with Russell at 6101 N. Santa Fe Ave. Officers located Russell shortly after the shooting, interviewed him and took him into custody. The Oklahoma City Police Department’s public homicide bulletin said he was booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a murder complaint.

The public record also contains a date inconsistency that should not be erased. The Oklahoma City Police Department bulletin was distributed on the afternoon of July 24 and described officers being called “last night,” which corresponds with other contemporary reports placing the shooting late July 23. The same bulletin’s incident field, however, lists the incident as July 24 at 11:32 p.m., a time after the bulletin itself was issued. KFOR, Oklahoma City Free Press and Law&Crime all reported the confrontation as occurring on the night of July 23, with Cooper dying the morning of July 24. The available material does not explain the conflicting date entry in the city bulletin.

Police designated Cooper’s death as one of Oklahoma City’s homicides for 2026. KOKH reported at the time that authorities described the shooting as an isolated incident and said they did not believe there was an ongoing danger to the public. The station also placed the killing within a particularly violent stretch for the city, reporting that it was the third homicide in five days. That broader context does not establish anything about Russell’s guilt or the legal merits of his account, but it shows why the case quickly became part of a wider public-safety discussion in Oklahoma City even as detectives continued to investigate the specific circumstances surrounding Cooper’s death.

Law&Crime reported on July 29 that Russell was being held on a $10 million bond and stood accused of first-degree murder. The city’s initial bulletin had used the more general description of a murder complaint at booking. The distinction reflects different stages and descriptions appearing in the available reporting, and the criminal allegation remains an accusation unless proven. Publicly accessible sources reviewed for this article do not provide a complete current court docket showing every filing, hearing or subsequent ruling in the case, so no later procedural milestone is being assumed here.

Weeks after the shooting, The Black Chronicle published an Aug. 20 story advertising an exclusive interview with Russell under the headline “I Did Not Want to Kill That Man.” The publicly accessible portion identifies Russell and notes local nicknames associated with him, but most of the interview is behind a subscription barrier. Because the full interview could not be independently reviewed, additional statements attributed to Russell in that article are not included here. The existence of the interview nevertheless shows that Russell has continued to address the case publicly while the central legal questions remain unresolved.

The verified record therefore leaves several important issues for the criminal process: how the two confrontations developed, what Russell intended when he summoned his wife, what happened immediately before he fired, and how investigators and prosecutors evaluate his claim that Cooper was chasing and striking him. Police have said Cooper died after the shooting and that Russell was arrested shortly afterward. Beyond those established points, responsibility under Oklahoma criminal law remains for the courts to determine. No publicly accessible material reviewed through Aug. 30 establishes a final adjudication in the case.

Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.