A 21-year-old woman has been charged with first-degree murder after Oklahoma City police said a 19-year-old tattoo artist was shot to death while sitting in a barber’s chair inside an apartment during what his family believed was a simple trade of a tattoo for a haircut.
Investigators say Emmitt Gresham Jr. arrived for the appointment on Jan. 18 and was killed minutes later in a shooting that police now describe as a planned robbery. The arrest of Anisha Danielle Washington, along with a separate arrest of a 17-year-old accused of helping suspects flee, has pushed the case into court while detectives continue to search for other people they say took part and remain at large.
Police first responded around 6:16 p.m. on Jan. 18 to reports of gunfire at an apartment complex in the 600 block of North Stonewall Avenue, near Northeast 6th Street on the city’s northeast side. Officers found Gresham inside an apartment with gunshot wounds and rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. In the days after the killing, relatives said he had gone to help someone and expected to exchange work he did as a tattoo artist for a haircut. His mother, Teri Thompson, later said detectives told her her son’s final plea was simple: “Call my mama,” she said.
In the weeks that followed, police tracked phone records, reviewed surveillance footage from the apartment building and interviewed witnesses as they tried to identify who was inside the apartment and who waited outside. Authorities allege Washington owned or controlled the apartment where the shooting happened and helped set up the victim for a robbery. Investigators say Washington communicated with the teen who was later arrested and sent him multiple videos shortly before the shooting. Police say the videos showed Washington holding several firearms that belonged to Gresham, a detail investigators treat as key because it suggests she had access to his property before he was killed or knew what he brought with him.
Investigators also say surveillance footage captured a rush of movement soon after the shooting. Less than 30 minutes after Washington sent the videos, police say cameras recorded Washington and two other people running out of the building, with one person carrying a backpack investigators believe belonged to Gresham. Police allege the 17-year-old waited outside during the attack and then drove the group away. The teen has been charged as an accessory to murder, and police have not released his name because of his age. Detectives say at least two additional suspects remain on the run, and they have asked the public for information about the people seen fleeing.
Thompson has publicly described the moments that led up to the shooting as a favor that turned into a trap. She said her son believed he was doing a trade and did not expect danger. She also said the details police shared with her did not sound like a random break-in. “I do believe he was set up,” Thompson said in a televised interview in January. She described her son as someone who tried to avoid conflict and would have given up his belongings rather than fight. Friends and relatives echoed that picture in online posts and a fundraising page created after his death, describing him as upbeat and generous, with plans for his work and his future that ended abruptly that Sunday night.
The shooting location has added to the shock around the case. Police say the killing happened inside a residence while Gresham sat for a haircut, not on a street corner or during a dispute outside a business. That detail has become central to how investigators frame the case, because it suggests the victim felt safe enough to sit down, relax and let someone cut his hair. Investigators say the door was left unlocked and that the gunmen entered and demanded property, then shot him. Even before the arrests, police described the motive as unclear, but the robbery allegations and the reported focus on his backpack have since shaped the narrative of the investigation.
Washington was arrested and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on the murder charge. She appeared in court on Feb. 20 before Oklahoma County District Judge Thomas C. Riesen, who ordered her held on a $10 million bond, according to court records cited in reports about the case. The bond decision kept her in jail as she awaits the next steps, including a formal arraignment and future hearings where prosecutors are expected to lay out the evidence they plan to present. Police and prosecutors have not publicly detailed whether Washington has an attorney yet or how she plans to plead.
The case has also raised questions about the circle around the apartment and how the meeting was arranged. Police allege Washington coordinated with others, but the available court filings described in reports do not yet name all suspects. Investigators say they are still working to identify the two people seen with Washington on surveillance video and to determine who fired the fatal shots. Authorities have also not publicly said whether the suspects knew Gresham personally, whether they targeted him for specific items, or whether they believed he carried cash, weapons or other valuables because of his work and the trade arrangement.
Gresham’s work as a young tattoo artist has remained at the center of how his family talks about him. Relatives say he was building a reputation, learning his craft and taking on clients who trusted him. That same trust, they say, may have made it easier for someone to lure him to a private apartment for a haircut. Friends and supporters have shared photos of his artwork and described him as someone who stayed busy and helped others without expecting much in return. Thompson has said the loss has shattered her family and left them searching for answers about who decided to turn a simple exchange into a deadly robbery.
For Oklahoma City, the killing became part of a violent weekend that included several other homicides, according to summaries released by local news outlets and police. Those broader tallies have placed pressure on detectives to clear cases quickly while also building files strong enough to hold up in court. Police have urged anyone with information about the Stonewall Avenue killing to contact the homicide tip line, and they have continued to review digital evidence and footage that might show where suspects went after leaving the apartment complex.
As of late February, Washington remained jailed as detectives continued to search for the missing suspects and prosecutors weighed how to present the case to a jury. The accessory case against the 17-year-old is expected to proceed on a separate track in juvenile or adult court, depending on how prosecutors file it. Police have said the next major milestones include locating the remaining suspects, recovering any stolen items tied to the robbery, and moving the murder case through preliminary hearings where investigators could be called to testify about what they found.
Author note: Last updated Wednesday, February 25, 2026.