Four killed in shooting at Tulsa medical building, police say
Four people were killed in a shooting at a Tulsa medical building on Wednesday, according to a police captain who described a “catastrophic scene”.
Eric Dalgleish, deputy chief of the Tulsa police department, confirmed that four people were dead, not including the shooter, who apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
It was unclear what prompted the deadly assault. However, the unidentified gunman fired both a handgun and a rifle during the attack, Dalgleish said.
Police responded to the call three minutes after dispatchers received the report and made contact with the gunman one minute later, authorities said.
Capt Richard Meulenberg also said multiple people were wounded and that the medical complex was a “catastrophic scene”.
Police and hospital officials said they were not ready to identify those killed.
The motive and circumstances of the deadly assault were still unclear on Wednesday evening. The unidentified gunman carried both a handgun and a rifle during the attack, authorities said.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the governor of Oklahoma called the killings a “senseless act of violence and hatred” and thanked first responders for their “quick and brave actions”.
“I have offered Mayor GT Bynum any state resources that may be needed, and I ask all Oklahomans to come together in support of the Saint Francis health system community,” said Kevin Stitt.
The shooting marks another incident of gun violence in a nation still reeling from last week’s attack in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 children and two teachers were killed in one of the worst school shootings in US history. Just days before, a gunman in Buffalo, New York, was accused of fatally shooting 10 people at a supermarket. On Wednesday, that shooter was charged with domestic terrorism and murder.
The recent Memorial Day weekend also saw multiple mass shootings nationwide.
St Francis health system locked down its campus on Wednesday afternoon because of the situation at the Natalie Medical Building. The Natalie building houses an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
Aerial footage from a TV helicopter appeared to show first responders wheeling someone on a stretcher away from the hospital building.
Dozens of police cars could be seen outside the hospital complex, and authorities shut down traffic as the investigation went on.
A reunification center for families to find their loved ones was set up at a nearby high school. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene, a spokesperson said.
Nicholas O’Brien, a Tulsa resident whose mother was in a nearby building when the shooting occurred, told reporters that he had hurried to the scene.
“They were rushing people out. I don’t know if some of them were injured or just have been injured during the shooting, but some of them couldn’t walk very well. But they were just kind of wobbling and stumbling and getting them out of there,” he said.
“I was pretty anxious. So once I got here and then I heard that she [his mother] was OK, the shooter had been shot and was down, I felt a lot better. It still is horrible what happened,” O’Brien said.