Pair due in court in Tulsa shooting case

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Two men charged with shooting five people at a Hmong New Year’s festival in Tulsa last fall are scheduled to be in district court.

Boonmlee Lee and Meng Lee are scheduled for preliminary hearings Thursday morning. Each has pleaded not guilty to one count of shooting with intent to kill and five counts of assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

An Oklahoma judge delayed the preliminary hearings last month because attorneys were having problems finding a local interpreter who didn’t know the victims or defendants.

The Lees and the five people hurt in the October shooting are all ethnic Hmong, who hail from Asian countries including Laos, China, Vietnam and Thailand. Thousands of Hmong live in Tulsa, many arriving in recent years in search of work.