Police arrested two white male suspects early on Sunday in shootings that left three people dead and two more critically wounded, all black, in the Tulsa area.

The Friday morning shootings had left the city's black community on edge through the weekend. Authorities had said they thought the shootings in a predominantly black neighborhood by an attacker or attackers were linked because they happened around the same time and all five victims were out walking when they were shot.

Tulsa police spokesman Jason Willingham said the two men were arrested at a house just north of Tulsa at 1:47 am and were expected to face three charges of first-degree murder and two counts of shooting with intent to kill.

He said police acted on a crimestoppers' tip and went to one location and tracked the suspects after they traveled about a 0.8 kilometer on foot to another location where they were taken into custody. He declined to characterize that as a pursuit.

"There obviously still is a lot of investigation" ahead, Willingham told The Associated Press by telephone. "We don't have a motive at this time. We are still asking questions and hopefully that will become clear in coming days."

Willingham identified the men in custody as 19-year-old Jake England and 32-year-old Alvin Watts. He gave no details of what developments led to their arrests, but said they were taken into custody early on Sunday for questioning at a downtown Tulsa police station.

Willingham said authorities still faced many unanswered questions.

"We are going to turn over every rock," he said of the investigation.

Police had said previously that they were searching for a white man driving a white pickup, which was spotted in the area of three of the shootings. At least two dozen officers were called to investigate the case, along with the FBI and US Marshals Service.

He said the arrests followed an anonymous tip received on Saturday but he declined to specify what that tip was.

Willingham said he did not have any immediate details when asked if the men were armed when they were arrested.

He said police had begun moving to make arrests on Saturday evening.