A week after the massacre at the Uvalde school, another shooting occurs in the United States. According to local authorities, a guy armed with a rifle and a handgun staged an attack this Wednesday at a hospital in the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, resulting in several wounded and at least four killings.
According to officials, at least four people were killed and many more were injured in a shooting at the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday.
Just before 5 p.m. local time, police received a report of a man strolling about with a rifle near a medical office. According to Tulsa Police Captain Richard Meulenberg, when officers arrived, it had developed into an active shooter situation.
According to authorities, when police entered the building, they discovered many individuals shot in one area on the second level, including an orthopedic office. Authorities first speculated that the victims could be a mix of staff and guests. Natalie is a hospital’s medical building.
ACTIVE SHOOTER SITUATION UPDATE: See our Facebook for more info: pic.twitter.com/dla5NWukWM
— Tulsa Police (@TulsaPolice) June 1, 2022
ACTIVE SHOOTER UPDATE: We can confirm 4 people are deceased, including the shooter, in the active shooting situation at St. Francis hospital campus.
— Tulsa Police (@TulsaPolice) June 1, 2022
Officers are still clearing the building. More info to follow.
“Officers immediately rushed to the second floor where the shooting was taking place, when they got there they found a few people had been shot, a couple were dead at that time,” Meulenberg told ABC News. “We also found at that time who [we] believe and still believe to [be] the shooter because he had a long rifle and a pistol with him.”
The Tulsa shooting follows a string of killings around the United States, including the Uvalde shooting in Texas, which murdered 21 people, including 19 children, and a mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that killed ten Black people.
According to Meulenberg, one of the Tulsa victims died after fleeing the scene in an attempt to seek medical help. It’s unclear how many others were injured in the incident at this time, though Meulenberg believes it was under ten.
According to Tulsa Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish, the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. During a press conference, he stated that police were still seeking to identify the name of the accused gunman, a male thought to be between the ages of 35 and 40.
Dalgleish said that it looks like both weapons were fired. He said it’s unclear if the suspect had a specific target in mind.
The five-story hospital complex was secured room by room, according to police.
“We are doing a meticulous floor-by-floor, room-by-room search … It’s calmed down. We’re trying to connect people and we’re hoping not to find any victims,”
Police are also looking into a possible bomb threat that could be linked to the suspect shooter.
Muskogee Chief of Police Johnny Teehee said Wednesday night that authorities evacuated a home in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 50 miles southeast of Tulsa, after getting a report that the suspect “may have left a bomb at this residence.”
He said a bomb squad was on the scene and police were attempting to get a warrant to search the house.
Muskogee Mayor Marlon Coleman later stated that the bomb squad had cleared the site of any potential threat and that it had been “handed over to the necessary authorities.”
The Tulsa Police Department said that people shouldn’t go near where the shooting happened, and that families will be reunited at Memorial High School on the west side of LaFortune Park.
The mayor of Tulsa, G. T. Bynum, offered his “profound gratitude” to the “broad range of first responders who did not hesitate today to respond to this act of violence.”
Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma also complimented first responders for “trying their best to contain a terrible situation” and offered the community any state resources it needed.
On Twitter, he stated, “What happened today in Tulsa is a senseless act of violence and hatred.”
According to White House officials, President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been briefed on the shooting.
In a statement, the White House said, “The White House is closely monitoring the situation and has reached out to state and local officials to offer support.”
Image Credit: Getty
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