man. Black store owners reportedly then came out of nearby shops to help defend the Black man, and "once they started defending him, they ended up having to shoot." The account further notes, "[The Black store owners] fought back the best they could. But...[the white mob] started on that end of town, where the black people started fighting, [the white mob] set those initial shops on fire at the very beginning." The 2001 Commission itself does note that "African American homes and businesses along Archer were the first targets" of the white mob's arson. These could possibly be the same shops "down the street from the Courthouse" where this inciting incident reportedly took place, and it establishes an immediate motive for those particular shops being targeted first. Of course, it may simply be the case that they were targeted first only out of convenience - Archer being the first street on Greenwood's side of the Frisco Tracks. Moreover, while the Taylor account seems adamant that this incident occurred before the initial gunfight at the Courthouse (and then "escalated to the Courthouse"), it's still possible that the incident Taylor witnessed was itself simply a product of the rolling gunfight that is known to have ensued across the streets of Tulsa following that first widely-reported exchange of gunfire. Outbursts of violence The gunshots triggered an almost immediate response, with both sides firing on each other. The first "battle" was said to last a few seconds or so, but it took a toll, because ten whites and two Black men lay dead or dying in the street. The Black men who had offered to provide security retreated toward Greenwood. A rolling gunfight ensued. The armed white mob pursued the Black contingent toward Greenwood, with many stopping to loot local stores for additional weapons and ammunition. Along the way, bystanders, many of whom were leaving a movie theater after a show, were caught off guard by the mobs and fled. Panic set in as the white mob began firing on any Black people in the crowd. The white mob also shot and killed at least one white man in the confusion. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society some in the mob were deputized by police and instructed to "get a gun and get a nigger". At around 11 p.m., members of the National Guard unit began to assemble at the armory to organize a