In the early morning hours of February 21, 2016, a night of gambling at the Osage Casino had just ended for 23-year-old Blaine Anthony Heath Wells and his friends. They had left the casino and were in a friend's car in Tulsa, Oklahoma, heading to another casino to continue their night. Wells was seated in the back seat as they drove through an apartment complex.
It was a decision that placed him in the wrong place at the utterly wrong time, in the path of a man on a deadly mission.
A white sedan began following their vehicle. As their car stopped, a man named Shane Vanderpool, a 39-year-old associate of the Irish Mob gang, emerged from the pursuing car. He walked up to the back of the car where Wells was sitting, raised a. 40 caliber pistol, and fired a single shot through the back window before fleeing. The bullet struck Blaine Wells in the head. His friends rushed him to a nearby QuikTrip to call for help, but his injury was too severe. Blaine Wells died from the single gunshot wound.
The investigation into the senseless killing soon revealed it was a tragic case of mistaken identity. Law enforcement uncovered a feud between the Irish Mob and a rival white supremacist gang, the United Aryan Brotherhood. Vanderpool had been hunting for a member of the rival gang, Kevin Pilon, and tragically mistook Wells for his target. Blaine Wells had no connection to either gang; he was simply an innocent man who bore a resemblance to the intended victim.
The search for the killer intensified, and Tulsa police soon identified Shane Vanderpool as the primary suspect. On March 3, 2016, authorities located him in a Chevrolet Impala. A chase ensued, with Vanderpool attempting to elude officers before abandoning his vehicle and fleeing on foot. A K-9 unit eventually captured him. Vanderpool was arrested and charged with the murder of Blaine Wells. The aftermath of the murder saw further violence, as members of the Irish Mob kidnapped a woman and her two daughters after she provided information to the police about the shooting. Ultimately, Shane Vanderpool was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, bringing a measure of justice for the tragic and untimely death of an innocent young man.
