Ted Gilford Sr., a 61-year-old Black / African American man, was spending a Thursday evening inside his apartment at the New Haven complex in South Tulsa on November 6, 2025, when the routine sounds of life along East 62nd Street and South Peoria gave way to raised voices and turmoil. He was there with his girlfriend, and what began as an ordinary night gradually escalated into a confrontation loud enough for neighbors to notice through the walls.
Shortly afterward, the quiet of the corridor was broken by multiple gunshots, the kind of sharp, sudden noise that pulls people to their doors and windows and prompts hurried calls for help.
Around 8:45 p.m., a 911 call came from inside Ted’s apartment. His girlfriend reported that she had been shot in the back, and officers from the Tulsa Police Department rushed to the New Haven Apartments in the 1400 block of East 62nd Street. When they arrived, they found both Ted and his girlfriend wounded inside the unit. Despite their injuries, both were still conscious and able to speak with first responders as medics worked over them in the cramped space of the apartment. As paramedics prepared to transport them, the two victims identified the shooter as Ted’s adult son, providing officers with his name and a description of what he was wearing.
The information from Ted and his girlfriend fit with what neighbors had already noticed: there had long been friction between father and son at the complex. Witnesses told detectives that the son frequently caused disturbances when he came around, and that earlier that evening they had heard a commotion before the eruption of gunfire. Investigators also learned that the son was effectively homeless, often spending time in the area around 61st and Peoria, not far from the apartment complex. As those details were relayed over the radio, officers spread out through the surrounding streets, aware that an armed suspect on foot could quickly disappear into the mix of traffic, businesses, and side streets in that busy South Tulsa corridor.
A bystander reported seeing the suspect running from the complex, which helped narrow the search. Tulsa police units saturated the area while the department’s helicopter took to the air, its crew scanning alleys, yards, and parking lots below. Before long, the helicopter’s observers spotted a man believed to be the suspect hiding behind a fence near the 6300 block of South Peoria Avenue. Ground units, including K9 officers, converged on the spot and took him into custody without further gunfire. Nearby, officers recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the shooting, lying close to where he had tried to conceal himself.
Ted and his girlfriend were rushed from the scene to the hospital. Despite emergency treatment, Ted’s wounds proved fatal, and he died there from his injuries. His girlfriend survived and was reported to be in stable condition as she continued to receive care, carrying not only physical wounds but also the knowledge that the violence had come from within the family. News of Ted’s death spread quickly among relatives and friends, some of whom later described him in memorials and fundraising efforts as deeply loved and sorely missed, while candles were lit in his memory on online gun violence memorial pages.
The man arrested that night was identified by police and court records as 29-year-old Ted Jack Gilford Jr., Ted’s son. He was booked on accusations of first-degree murder in connection with his father’s death and assault and battery with a deadly weapon for the shooting of his father’s girlfriend. Prosecutors in Tulsa County later filed a formal felony case against him under case number CF-2025-4185, listing the date of offense as November 6, 2025. At an arraignment hearing, he entered a plea of not guilty, and a judge set his bond at $2 million, remanding him to custody while the case moves toward a preliminary hearing scheduled for early January 2026.
Investigators have indicated that they do not believe anyone else was involved in the shooting, focusing their case solely on the son as the alleged gunman. As of the latest available records, the criminal charges remain pending, with no trial verdict or final resolution reported. Ted’s death, and the arrest of his son, left a family and community grappling with a loss that unfolded within the walls of a modest Tulsa apartment, turning a family conflict into a fatal crime that will be examined in an Oklahoma courtroom in the months ahead.
