Police say a man who was shot after allegedly beheading a woman at an Oklahoma food processing plant from which he had just been fired has regained consciousness and will be charged with first-degree murder.

Police Sergeant Jeremy Lewis said on Saturday that 30-year-old Alton Nolen remains hospitalised in a stable condition.

He said Nolen had regained consciousness and investigators had interviewed him.

Lewis says Nolen will be charged on Monday with first-degree murder and assault and battery with a deadly weapon and he could also face federal charges.

Authorities say Nolen severed the head of 54-year-old Colleen Hufford during Thursday’s attack at the Vaughn Foods plant in Moore, near Oklahoma City.

They say Nolen was repeatedly stabbing another woman when a company executive shot him. That woman survived.