The man who shot at the Tulsa medical office had purchased an AR-style rifle hours before he fatally shot four people, officials said Thursday. Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin says the gunman had recently had back surgery and called a clinic repeatedly complaining of pain.
Franklin says the doctor who performed the surgery, Dr. Preston Phillips, was among those killed on Wednesday.
“We also have a letter about the suspect, which makes it clear that he came with the intention of killing Dr. Phillips and anyone who gets in his way,” Franklin said. “He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain after the surgery.”
Officials said the gunman had a rifle and handgun shooting in medical building at a hospital complex, the latest in a series of deadly mass shootings across the country in recent weeks.
Wednesday’s shooting on the campus of the St. Francis Health System occurred the same week that families in Uvalde, Texas, began burying the dead from the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.
Police said the victim and gunman were found on the second floor of a medical office in Tulsa, where an orthopedic clinic is located. Eric Dalglish, deputy chief of the Tulsa Police Department, said the shooter, whose name has not been released, died of an apparent gunshot wound to himself.
The hospital said in a statement that it is “mourning the loss of four members of our community” but did not immediately identify the dead.
Till Friday all appointments in orthopedic clinics were cancelled.
Recent outbreaks of gun violence across the country, including the killing of 19 children and two teachers Robb Elementary School in Uvalde By an 18-year-old gunman carrying an AR-style semi-automatic rifle, Democratic leaders have stepped up their calls for more restrictions on guns, while Republicans are pushing for more safety in schools.
The division reflects a partisan divide that has led Congress and several state capitals to act on how best to respond to the record-high number of gun-related deaths in America.
Police said officers investigating the Tulsa shooting executed a search warrant in connection with the investigation at a home in Muskogee, about 45 miles (70 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa.
“It appears that both weapons were fired at one point or another at the scene,” Dalglish said.
“The officers who arrived were hearing gunshots in the building, and that’s what led them to the second floor.”
Dalglish said police responded to the call about three minutes after dispatchers received the report at 4:52 p.m. and contacted the gunman at 5:01 p.m.
“I am very pleased with what we know so far about the response of our officers,” Dalglish said.
The time it took police officers in Uvalde to engage the gunman during the deadly school shooting in Texas last week has become the focus of that investigation. Officers waited more than an hour to break into the classroom where the gunman had attacked.
Tulsa Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg also said that several people were injured and that the medical complex was a “devastating scene.” The exact number of injured was not immediately available.
St. Francis Health System closed its premises on Wednesday afternoon due to the condition of the Natalie Medical Building, which houses outpatient clinics and other medical offices.
“This campus is holy ground for our community,” said Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum. “For decades, this campus has been a place where heroes work every day to save the lives of people in our community.”
Bynum said: “At the moment, my condolences are with the victims. If we want to have a policy discussion, it should be in the future, but not tonight.”
Philip Tankersley, 27, was leaving his father’s room at nearby St. Francis Hospital around 5 p.m. when hospital staff said there was an active shooter in the building across the street, they locked the doors and told him Warn to stay away from windows.
Tankersley said he and his mother stayed in their father’s hospital room for more than an hour, trying to learn TV news and scraps of information from nurses. He said he announced “Code Silver” and “Level 1 trauma” on hospital speakers and wondered if they were safe in the room.
“I wasn’t particularly worried because the two people I was looking for were in the same room as me,” he said. “But it certainly was that this is happening here.”
Wednesday’s shooting also comes more than two weeks after a Buffalo supermarket was shot by a white man who is accused of killing 10 black people in a racist attack. Recent Memorial Day weekend saw several mass shootings across the country, including an outdoor celebration in Taft, Oklahoma, 45 miles from Tulsa, even as single-death incidents with the majority of guns. death occurs.
There have been 12 shootings since January, killing four or more people, according to the Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University mass killing database.
The database says 76 people, including 31 adults and children, have been killed in those shootings in Buffalo and Texas. The death toll does not include the number of suspects involved in the shooting.