At least four people are dead and multiple people injured following a shooting at the Natalie Building at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday evening, according to police.
Law enforcement responding to reports of shooting (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP) Pictures of two people being reunited after shooting at Natalie Medical Building on Wednesday, June 1, 2022 in Tulsa Okla. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP) Outside the Natalie Medical Building on Wednesday, June 1, 2022 in Tulsa Okla. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP) Police talk with young man awaiting family member after reports of shooting in the Natalie Medical Building in Tulsa Okla. on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (Ian Maule/Tulsa World via AP) Suspect, Michael Louis, Police say is responsible for killing his surgeon and three others in the Natalie Medical Building on June 1, 2022 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. {Muskogee County Sheriffs Office via AP)
Police are investigating a shooting that occurred Wednesday, June 1, 2022 at the Natalie building at Saint Francis Health System in Tulsa, Okla. that left four people dead.
Records show Michael Louis, the suspect in the shooting, underwent surgery at the Medical Center by an orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Preston Phillips just a month prior and have had complications since.
According to police, Louis blamed Phillips for the post-op back pain and repeatedly called the clinic complaining about the pain. He came in for a routine post-op check up and didn’t receive additional care after that. Police believe this chain of events resulted in Louis purchasing an AR-style rifle and targeting the surgeon in a revenge rampage.
The shooting left Dr. Preston Phillips, 59, and three others dead.
Amongst the other lives claimed in the shooting, they were later identified as Dr. Stephanie Husen, 48, receptionist Amanda Glenn, 40, and a patient of the clinic William Love, a 73-year-old retired army sergeant.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin says Louis turned the gun to himself as police arrived, leaving him dead-on-arrival after killing Dr. Phillips and three others.
Franklin applauded the law enforcement and first responders, 911 operators and emergency for their “immediate response” to the attack Wednesday. Police responded to the call about three minutes after dispatchers received the report at 4:52 p.m. and made contact with the gunman at 5:01 p.m., authorities said Wednesday.
Police believe Louis purchased his AR-style, semi automatic rifle legally on the afternoon of the shooting and killed himself about 39 seconds after the first officers arrived on the scene.
President Joe Biden have addressed the Tulsa shooting and said since the Robb Elementary School shooting that happened last week on May 24 that left 21 people dead including 19 students and 2 teachers, there have been 20 other mass shooting incidents across the country. This doesn’t include the mass shooting that took place 10 days prior in Buffalo, New York or the other carnage that doesn’t make the headlines.
Democratic and Republican leaders have heightened their call for gun restriction laws to change leaving a partisan split that stemmed Congress to respond to record-high number of gun related deaths in the US.