On Wednesday, a shooting at a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital left five people dead and less than 10 injured. The weapon used in this attack was an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. The shooter also had a semiautomatic handgun that they had purchased on May 29. The gunman was found dead as well. Authorities believe they died by suicide. The perpetrator has not been identified.
The gunman started firing their weapon on the second floor of the Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Captain Richard Meulenberg explained that it was madness inside the facility. He said there are hundreds of rooms with numerous people attempting to evacuate the building.
This Tulsa shooting is along the recent situations in the country where civilians and first responders are coming in contact with the gun violence threat in public. The incident happened over two weeks following a racial assault as a Buffalo, New York, supermarket as well as an attack on a California church. Also, it was only eight days after the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school massacre.
The shooting at the hospital in Tulsa was one of the 233 shooting that have occurred in the U.S. just this year, based on information from the Gun Violence Archive. The definition of a mass shooting by the archive is one where at minimum four people were shot, not including the shooter.
Police Response to Call at Tulsa Medical Center
Police received the call around 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday and arrive shortly after. The call was about an individual armed with a gun at the Natalie Medical Building in Tulsa. The location is a physicians’ office on the campus of Saint Francis Hospital, according to Eric Dalgleish, Tulsa police Deputy Chief.
Law enforcement officers that arrived only minutes after the call heard shots in the office. The sounds of gunfire directed them to the second level of the building. The shooter was discovered dead as police entered the Tulsa hospital building.
Captain Meulenberg explained that they are under the suspicion that the fatal wounds on the gunman were self-inflicted. Two of the victims were in the same room as the shooter.
It is unclear if the people who were killed in the Tulsa medical center were patients, visitors, or medical staff. The incident took place at an orthopedic office in the building.
Also, the people harmed suffered injuries that are not life-threatening. Police are trying to figure out if they were hurt by escape chaos or gunfire. No police officers were injured.
Investigations are underway to determine the motive of the shooter. It is not believed that the shooter was indiscriminate.
Captain Meulenberg explained that the shooter went to that specific building and floor and shot with purpose. He also stated that this shooting was not random.
Witness’s Feelings About Incident
Lachelle Nathan explained to news reports that she had gotten to the Tulsa medical center in her vehicle with her grandchild and daughter-in-law for an appointment as police were running toward the building. She said that it is sad and awful, her daughter-in-law comes from Buffalo so it hits close to home. She feels that is not longer safe to go outside anymore.
Nathan’s daughter-in-law said that it is scary that this can happen anywhere you go and this is an eye opener for her children.
“You can’t even go to a store, you can’t even go to school, now you can’t go to the doctor?”
In another building on the Tulsa medical campus, Debra Proctor was attending an appointment when she heard sirens.
Proctor has been a register nurse for over 48 years. She explained that law enforcement were all over the parking lot and all through the surrounding area. She stated that they were still arriving on scene as she was leaving.
A lifelong resident of Tulsa, Kalen Davis, age 45, explained that she was sitting in traffic near 5:00 p.m. At this time Davis witnessed numerous law enforcement vehicle heading to the Tulsa hospital campus.
She shared a video that showed authorities running toward the Tulsa medical building with their firearms drawn. Also seen in the video, two cops were taking out long firearms from the trunk of their vehicles as more officers speed to the location.
“I just knew that it was a shooting situation because I saw police running with rifles. That’s when I got emotional,” Davis explained.
Written by Marrissa Kay
CNN News: Assault-style weapon in deadly Tulsa medical facility shooting was bought that day, sources say; by Shimon Prokupecz, Evan Perez, Jason Hanna, and Travis Caldwell
CNN News: At least 4 people were killed in a Tulsa, Oklahoma, hospital campus shooting, police say; by Andy Rose and Christina Maxouris
ABC News 8 Tulsa: 5 dead in shooting at Saint Francis medical building; by Callie Morris, Megan Butler, Savannah Sinclair, and Cory Smith
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Elvert Barnes’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image Courtesy of David Schuttler’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
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