In the early morning hours of August 14, 2025, a quiet street in southeast Oklahoma City was shattered by gunfire. Inside his home on Southeast 21st Street, 56-year-old James Blue, a Black male, was fatally wounded in a drive-by shooting that occurred just after sunrise, around 7:44 a.m. Another woman in the house was also struck by bullets but survived her injuries. When first responders arrived, they found Mr. Blue deceased at the scene.
The incident was quickly classified as the city's 46th homicide of the year.
The investigation into the death of James Blue led law enforcement on a swift pursuit of the suspects. Investigators determined that the shots were fired from a vehicle that fled the scene. The trail led them approximately an hour away to Wewoka, Oklahoma, where two individuals were taken into custody later that same day. The suspects were identified as 18-year-old Robert Rains and 20-year-old Azia Nelson-Louie. Both were transported back to Oklahoma City and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on murder complaints.
Further investigation and an interview with one of the suspects led to the identification of a third person allegedly involved in the shooting. This individual was identified as 20-year-old Tre'Quan Johnson, who is believed to have been the person who fired the weapon from the vehicle. Johnson was arrested the day after the shooting, on August 15, 2025, and was also booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on a first-degree murder complaint. The rapid arrests brought all three individuals suspected of being in the car during the fatal drive-by into custody.
