POLICE: TULSA SHOOTER BLAMED DOCTOR FOR PAIN
A gunman who killed his surgeon and three other people at a Tulsa medical office blamed the doctor for his continuing pain after a recent back operation and bought an AR-style rifle just hours before the rampage, police said Thursday.
The patient called the clinic repeatedly complaining of pain and specifically targeted the doctor who performed the surgery, then killed himself as police arrived, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said.
That physician, Dr. Preston Phillips, was killed Wednesday, along with Dr. Stephanie Husen, recepPresident tionist Amanda Glenn and visitor William Love, police said. The attack occurred on the campus of Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa. The chief identified the shooter as Michael Louis, 45, of Muskogee, Okla.
It was the latest in a series of mass shootings in the United States including the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and an attack on a supermarket in Buffalo, N.Y. The recent Memorial Day weekend saw multiple mass shootings nationwide, including at an outdoor festival in Taft, Okla., 45 miles from Tulsa, even as singledeath incidents accounted for most gun fatalities.
Joe Biden addressed the carnage in recent years from mass shootings with AR-style rifles in an address Thursday night.
Since the mass shooting at a Uvalde elementary school killed 21 people, including 19 children, “just over a week ago, there have been 20 mass shootings in America, each with four or more people killed or injured,” he said. “That doesn’t count the carnage we see every single day that doesn’t make the headlines,” he said.
Louis carried a letter that said he was targeting Phillips, Franklin said. The letter “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.”
Franklin said Phillips performed the surgery on May 19 and Louis was released from the hospital on May 24.
He said Louis called the doctor’s office “several times over several days” reporting he was still in pain and saw Phillips on Tuesday for “additional treatment.” Louis called the office again Wednesday “complaining of back pain and wanting additional assistance,” he said.