Police Arrest Man Wanted For NW OKC Murder; Victim Identified

A metro neighborhood was relieved after police caught the suspect wanted in the shooting death of a woman inside a home on N. Miller Boulevard.

Residents of the Miller neighborhood said they were rattled after hearing of the deadly shooting since it is a typically quiet and safe area.

Natalie Iiland said she and her two little boys can walk down their neighborhood street a little easier knowing that a shooting suspect is behind bars.

"It's a big relief, and we all feel a little better now that the man has been caught," Iiland said.

Oklahoma City Police arrested 26-year-old Darren Gouge late Friday night after they got a call from someone saying a man was trying to break into a number of cars near S.W. 44th Street and Independence Avenue. The attempted break-ins didn't shock nearby residents.

"There's all the time something going on here,” said 71-year-old Glennis. “You can hear noises of people out here trying to get in to the apartments and the houses."

Police said Gouge met the caller's description and was later confirmed as the suspect in the shooting death of a woman near NW 15th Street and Miller Boulevard Friday afternoon. The streets were blocked on Halloween as the two-story duplex was surrounded with yellow tape.

The victim has been identified as 26-year-old Lauren W. Totten (MaGuffee.) Her cause of death is contact, penetrating gunshot wound to the back of her head. And her manner of death is homicide.

Neighbors said the home has been a trouble spot with police coming by often. A group even filed a lawsuit to get the tenants evicted after one was stealing water from a next door neighbor.

But they said they'll rest easier knowing that Gouge, who was previously convicted of domestic violence, theft and has several traffic violations, was booked into the Oklahoma County Jail.

11/1/2014 Related Story: Authorities Arrest Suspect In NW OKC Deadly Shooting

“We're going to continue on with life but, it's a, it is a relief knowing that," Iiland said.

Two women who lived in the duplex, one carrying a baby, said on Saturday that they did not know the woman who was shot or how the shooting happened.

The Miller Neighborhood Association will hold its monthly meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. at the World Organization of China Painters building, where safety after this shooting will be a topic.

10/31/2014 Related Story: Police Investigate Shooting Death Of Woman At NW OKC Home