Oklahoma City police are asking for the public's help identifying two people accused of walking out of an Academy Sports and Outdoors store with roughly $1,200 worth of merchandise, then speeding off in a black Mitsubishi. The theft happened near 7700 S. Walker Ave. in South Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma City Police Department.
The Oklahoma City Police Department says it is seeking public assistance identifying the two individuals connected to the shoplifting investigation, as reported by KOKH. The case has been assigned number 26-52255, and investigators say the pair fled the scene in a black Mitsubishi after taking the merchandise from the store.
Why the Dollar Amount Matters
The roughly $1,200 figure isn't just a detail — it's likely the reason this case carries felony weight. Under Oklahoma statute Title 21 § 1731, larceny of retail merchandise valued between $1,000 and $2,500 is classified as a Class D3 felony, while thefts under $1,000 are typically treated as misdemeanor petit larceny. Because the estimated haul from the Academy Sports store clears that $1,000 threshold, the suspects face the more serious charge if identified and arrested.
That distinction also explains why police assigned a formal case number and are actively soliciting tips through Crime Stoppers of Oklahoma City, which offers anonymous tipsters cash rewards of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest or the filing of felony charges. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at (405) 235-7300. Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers operates entirely as a non-profit, funded through private donations rather than taxpayer dollars, which keeps the reward pipeline running independent of city budgets.
A Major Retail Anchor in South OKC
The Academy Sports and Outdoors location at 7700 S. Walker Ave. serves as a major retail anchor along that South Oklahoma City corridor and also holds a Federal Firearms License as a licensed dealer, according to FFLs.com. The Katy, Texas-based parent company, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Inc., reported $1.72 billion in net sales for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 alone, per its own investor materials, underscoring the scale of the retail chain even as individual store locations deal with theft on the ground.
To fight shoplifting and organized retail crime, Academy Sports has deployed automated license plate recognition cameras around store perimeters that capture vehicle data and can trigger real-time alerts to law enforcement, according to Flock Safety. It remains unclear whether cameras at the Walker Avenue store captured the black Mitsubishi's license plate in this case, and OKCPD has not said whether the two suspects are linked to other regional retail theft incidents.
Part of a Broader Pattern in South OKC
This isn't the first high-value retail theft OKCPD has investigated in South Oklahoma City this year. Hoodline previously reported on a Lowe's theft near I-240 and Santa Fe Avenue, where police similarly asked the public for tips through Crime Stoppers. Nationally, shoplifting incidents actually decreased by 12.4% in 2025 compared to the prior year, according to the National Retail Federation's 2026 industry report, a trend largely attributed to retailer investment in security technology and loss prevention.
Still, high-value theft cases like this one remain a priority for police, in part because most shoplifting never reaches law enforcement at all. The same NRF survey found that 63% of participating retailers report fewer than half of their store theft incidents to police, often citing dollar values that fall below felony thresholds and limited police response times, according to the Washington Retail Association. Cases that clear the felony line, like the Academy Sports theft, are more likely to result in a formal police appeal for public help.
The investigation comes as the Oklahoma City Police Department has also been dealing with a significant command staff transition, with multiple senior officers retiring in July following state legislative changes to police pension calculations under Senate Bill 102. Anyone with information about the two suspects or the black Mitsubishi they fled in is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
