In the winter of 2017, a burst of gunfire shattered the evening quiet in a northwest Oklahoma City neighborhood, leaving a man dead and a community searching for answers. On the night of January 27th, police were called to an apartment complex near NW 18th and Youngs Boulevard where they discovered the body of 37-year-old Jason Lee Banks inside his Honda Civic. He had sustained a fatal gunshot wound, and the initial investigation pointed to a violent altercation.
Witnesses at the scene reported hearing gunshots and seeing three individuals armed with firearms.
As the investigation unfolded, details of a heated confrontation began to emerge. Authorities identified three men involved in the incident that led to Banks's death. The investigation revealed that an argument had escalated into a physical fight, during which multiple shots were fired. One of the individuals, 21-year-old Martaveous Dwayne Gillioms, later admitted to fighting with Banks and firing his weapon, a shot that proved fatal. Gillioms himself was injured in the exchange, having been shot in the stomach by Banks.
A second man, 24-year-old William Tyangelo Proctor, also confessed to his involvement, stating that he too had fired at Banks in the heat of the moment. Both Gillioms and Proctor ultimately pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for their roles in the death of Jason Lee Banks and were each sentenced to 10 years in prison. A third individual, 33-year-old Omar Rashaad Adams, was also implicated in the violent encounter. Adams pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm after a felony conviction and no contest to a charge of shooting with intent to kill, receiving a sentence that ran concurrently with other convictions.
