Megan Nolen via Facebook
The mother of an Oklahoma murder suspect who allegedly beheaded a co-worker has apologized for his crimes, asking for strangers to pray for her family as she defended her crazed kin.
'My son was a good kid,' Joyce Nolen said in a Facebook video of son Alton Nolen, a Moore, Okla. food plant worker accused of a savage attack against two co-workers. 'I know what they saying, that he done, but I'm going to tell you this, that's not my son. There's two sides to every story, and we're only hearing one.'
Nolen, a 30-year-old Islamic convert, went on a rampage Thursday afternoon following his firing at Vaughan Foods. He severed 54-year-old Colleen Hufford's head at the neck with a produce knife before attacking Traci Johnson, 43, who survived the slashing, police said.
The ex-con was taken down by the company's chief operating officer, Mark Vaughn, a reserve deputy sheriff who opened fire after hearing screams and cries.
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'His family, our hearts bleed right now because what they saying Alton has done,' Joyce Nolen says in the 98-second clip, posted to Facebook on Saturday night. 'I want to apologize to both families because this is not Alton.'
Johnson, the injured victim, has since been released from the hospital.
Nolen will likely be charged Monday and could be moved from the hospital to jail sometime this week. Officers have spoken to the suspect about his spree.
The man's family is in shock.
'We are all very remorseful,' Paige Nolen, his sister, told The Oklahoman. 'If he had a chance to say anything, more than likely he would be apologizing, and that's what we want the world to know.'
Nolen was let out of prison in March 2013 after serving less than two years for three felony convictions, according to the newspaper.
Hours before his alleged rampage, Nolen called Paige Nolen in 'high spirits,' she told The Oklahoman.
'He was so happy when he got the job (at Vaughan),' Paige Nolen said. 'He was really happy because everyone he talked to told him it's going to be hard getting a job with the felonies. ... I'll never forget, you know, him feeling like he conquered it at that time.'
Nolen's online persona revealed a dark side obsessed with Islamic extremism. Posting under the name 'Jah'Keem Yisrael,' Nolen fantasized about the Statue of Liberty 'going into flames' and posted a picture of a beheading.
Next to a photo of Pope Benedict XVI posted in May, Nolen wrote: 'SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!!'
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Entities 0 Name: Nolen Count: 7 1 Name: Paige Nolen Count: 3 2 Name: Joyce Nolen Count: 2 3 Name: Alton Count: 2 4 Name: Pope Benedict XVI Count: 1 5 Name: Vaughan Foods Count: 1 6 Name: Moore Count: 1 7 Name: Johnson Count: 1 8 Name: Colleen Hufford Count: 1 9 Name: Oklahoma Count: 1 10 Name: Mark Vaughn Count: 1 11 Name: Statue of Liberty Count: 1 12 Name: Keem Yisrael Count: 1 13 Name: Megan Nolen Count: 1 14 Name: Alton Nolen Count: 1 15 Name: Okla. Count: 1 16 Name: Traci Johnson Count: 1 17 Name: Vaughan Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/Yl0UKy Title: Suspect in co-worker's beheading was recently released from probation Description: A man suspected of beheading a woman he worked with and stabbing another was a convicted felon who had been released from probation this year, Oklahoma corrections officials confirmed Thursday. Alton Nolen, 30, was released from probation in April, earlier than the original 2017 date, said Jerry Massie, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
