In the summer of 2017, a season that would prove to be one of the most violent in Tulsa's recent history, Steven Richard Hill was a 17-year-old navigating the landscape of his late teenage years. Known to friends and family as "Boogie," the Tulsa native, a White male, was described as a "chill kind of dude" who found joy in simple pleasures. He loved to fish, lose himself in video games, and had a healthy appreciation for food. Born on January 18, 2000, to George Steven Hill and Cheryl Dawn Horner, Steven was part of a large, blended family with numerous siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
The day of June 14, 2017, unfolded under the weight of a grim month for the city of Tulsa, a month that would ultimately be recorded as its bloodiest of the year. On that Wednesday, Steven was with two other teenagers inside the garage of a home on East 51st Place North, in the vicinity of North Peoria Avenue. Inside the garage, the group was handling a loaded shotgun.
According to police reports, the firearm was resting on the lap of one of the teens when it slipped. In a reflexive attempt to catch the falling weapon, the teen inadvertently gripped the trigger.
The sudden, deafening blast of the shotgun shattered the quiet of the garage. The single discharge struck Steven in the head. First responders arrived at the scene, a space that had moments before been a casual hangout for a group of friends, but their efforts to revive the young man were tragically unsuccessful. The life of Steven "Boogie" Hill was cut short in an instant of what authorities would later describe as reckless conduct with a firearm.
In the aftermath, detectives with the Tulsa Police Department interviewed the two other teenagers who were present in the garage. The city was grappling with a near-record number of homicides that year, a figure that would climb to 81 by the end of 2017, just one shy of the record set the previous year. The context of this violent summer hung over the investigation into Steven's death, which was one of 14 homicides to occur in June alone. These deaths stemmed from a variety of circumstances, from domestic feuds and petty arguments to encounters with police and unsolved mysteries.
Ultimately, Steven's death was classified as a tragic accident. Following the investigation and interviews, no arrests were made in connection with the shooting. On July 31, 2017, the District Attorney's office officially declined to file charges against the teenager who had been holding the shotgun. The case was closed, leaving a family to mourn and a community to reflect on the devastating consequences of a moment of carelessness. Five days after his death, on June 19, Steven's family and friends gathered for a celebration of his life at Contact Church in Tulsa, remembering the "chill kind of dude" who was taken from them far too soon.
