Dog found by owner’s side after he’s shot to death over bicycle, Oklahoma cops say

An Oklahoma man was shot and killed in a confrontation over a girl’s bicycle, and his dog didn’t leave his side, investigators said.

Deputies found Michael Smith dead outside of a home in Edmond on Nov. 28, Thanksgiving Day, according to court documents filed Dec. 11 in Logan County.

At first it wasn’t clear how Smith died. He was on the ground by a collapsed tent, near his dog, which was “frozen” in place “as if it did not want to leave the area,” deputies said in a probable cause affidavit.

Smith was experiencing homelessness, deputies learned, and the homeowners had been letting him stay on their property in his tent. Smith was alive when the homeowners left that morning to see family, and he seemed fine as they overheard him talking to the dog. But when they returned home in the afternoon, Smith was facedown on the ground, according to the documents.

He was clutching a bat in one hand, but there were no obvious signs of a struggle, deputies said.

Four days later, on Dec. 2, the county medical examiner discovered something investigators didn’t see at the scene: a gunshot wound. Smith had been shot, officials said. The bullet went through both of his lungs and “nicked his heart,” documents said.

Deputies returned to the area and talked with neighbors, asking if they’d seen or heard anything. They had.

Witnesses said three people — two men and a woman — approached the tent. The men confronted Smith while the woman used a rake to keep Smith’s barking dog at bay, witnesses told deputies.

Then there was a gunshot, according to the documents.

“Witnesses saw Mr. Smith struggling to stand, back peddling towards his tent and then falling to the ground,” deputies said.

One of the men, later identified as Aldon Harmon, hurried back to his truck and drove away, deputies said. The other two, Steven Canning and Destiny Meeks, left with a bicycle while shouting at witnesses, “he stole my 10-year-old’s bike,” according to the documents

Witnesses told deputies they didn’t realize Smith had been shot and thought he “tripped.”

Canning and Meeks are a couple, and Harmon is their neighbor, deputies learned. Canning believed Smith had stolen his daughter’s bicycle and he, Meeks and Harmon went to get it back from him, according to the documents.

However, he later told investigators in an interview that as he pedaled away from the scene on the bike, “he was not sure” that it was his daughter’s, deputies said.

Canning said Harmon shot Smith with a revolver, according to deputies, though it’s not clear why.

Harmon denied shooting at Smith or the “aggressive dog” with him, according to the documents, but deputies found a silver revolver at his home that matched the description given by Canning.

Deputies spoke with Meeks’ and Canning’s daughter, and she said they tried hiding her bicycle at someone else’s home after the shooting, according to documents. A deputy ultimately located the bike inside a shed at an abandoned property.

Harmon and Canning are both charged with murder, court records show.

McClatchy News reached out to an attorney representing Harmon but didn’t immediately receive a response. No attorney was listed for Canning.

Investigators did not say what became of Smith’s dog.

Edmond is a roughly 15-mile drive north from Oklahoma City.

This story was originally published December 12, 2024 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Dog found by owner’s side after he’s shot to death over bicycle, Oklahoma cops say."