Police: suspect targeted surgeon he blamed for pain
A man who blamed his surgeon for ongoing pain after a recent back surgery bought an AR-style rifle hours before opening fire at a Tulsa, Okla., medical office, killing the surgeon and three other people before fatally shooting himself, police said Thursday.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said the gunman had recently undergone back surgery and had called a clinic repeatedly complaining of pain.
Franklin said the doctor who performed the surgery, Dr. Preston Phillips, was killed Wednesday, along with another doctor, a receptionist and a patient.
“We also have a letter on the suspect, which made it
clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips
and anyone who got in his way,” Franklin said. “He
blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”
Dr. Cliff Robertson, president and CEO of St. Francis Health System, called Phillips “the consummate gentleman” and “a man that we should all strive to emulate.” He said the three employees who were killed were “the three best people in the entire world” and that they “didn’t deserve to die this way.”
Authorities said the gunman carried a rifle and handgun during the shooting at the medical building on a hospital campus, the latest in a series of deadly mass shootings across the country in recent weeks.
Wednesday’s shooting on the campus of St. Francis Health System happened the same week that families in Uvalde, Texas, began burying the dead from the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.
The victims and gunman in Tulsa were found on the second floor of a medical office where an orthopedic clinic is, police said. The shooter died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said.
All appointments at the orthopedic clinic were canceled through Friday.
The spate of recent gun violence across the country, including the killing of 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde by an 18-year-old gunman carrying an AR-style semiautomatic rifle, has led to Democratic leaders amplifying their calls for greater restrictions on guns, while Republicans are emphasizing more security at schools.