Video: Mother of beheading suspect apologizes

MOORE, Okla. — Two days after her son allegedly decapitated a 54-year-old woman and injured another, Joyce Nolen sent out a video apologizing to the families Alton Alexander Nolen hurt.

“On behalf of my son, Alton Nolen, my heart is so heavy right now,” Joyce Nolen said in the video. “I know my son. My son was raised up in a loving home… I know what they are saying that he (has) done. But I’m going to tell you this, that’s not my son.”

Alton Nolen, 30, has been accused of beheading Collen Hufford, 54, Thursday during a violent attack at Vaughan Foods in Moore after he had just been fired from the same company. According to Sgt. Jeremy Lewis of the Moore Police Department, he used a knife from work.

The second victim, Traci Johnson, 43, sustained several stab wounds before Nolen was shot by Mark Vaughan, the COO at Vaughan Foods and a reserve Oklahoma County deputy.

Both Nolen and Johnson were transported to OU Medical Center and were in stable condition. Johnson was released from the hospital this weekend.

Alton Nolen is expected to be charged with first degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Because Nolen had recently been trying to convert his co-workers at Vaughan to the Muslim faith, Moore police are working with the FBI to investigate his background.

A Facebook page believed to have been started by Nolen was found by The Transcript under the name Jah’Keem Yisrael. Photos posted to the page show Nolen dressed in traditional Muslim clothing.

Also, on several of the photos, Nolen makes strong statements against the United States.

However, on the video Joyce Nolen posted to Facebook, she says she doesn’t recognize those actions as something her son would do.

“My son was raised up believing in God,” Joyce Nolen said. “That’s what he believes.”