A Tulsa man who shot and killed two random strangers in public during a rampage last April was sentenced today to life in prison without parole.

Carlton Gilford pleaded guilty back in November to murder and malicious intimidation or harassment, the closest thing Oklahoma has to a hate crime statute.

Carlton Gilford walked up to a man at the Rudisill Library near Pine and Hartford and shot him in the back of the head, then went to a nearby QuikTrip where he shot and killed another man in similar fashion.

Early on, police said there didn’t appear to be any connection between Gilford and his victims, and though he confessed to arresting officers, investigators initially didn’t reveal his apparent motive.

But it quickly developed that he chose the two men to murder because they were white.

Prosecutors added the count of malicious intimidation or harassment, a misdemeanor, when filing a total of five counts against Gilford in early May.

They also charged him with two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

The D.A.’s office had recommended life without the possibility of parole.