A man carrying a rifle and a pistol opened fire on a medical office building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday afternoon, killing four people and injuring several others before apparently committing suicide in the last one. mass shootings to impact the country, according to authorities. dit.
In an interview on Wednesday night, Captain Richard Meulenberg of the Tulsa Police Department said the attack was not random.
“This wasn’t an individual who just decided he wanted to go find a hospital full of random people,” he said. “He deliberately chose to come here and his actions were deliberate.” Captain Meulenberg refused to say anything more about the gunman’s motive.
Police did not disclose the gunman’s identity, but at a previous news conference, Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said he was between 35 and 40 years old.
Police received a call about a shooting at 4:52 p.m., and arrived at the scene four minutes later, Chief Dalgleish said. All the shootings are believed to have taken place in a section of the second floor of the Natalie Medical Building on the campus of Saint Francis Hospital, he said. The sound of gunfire drew officers to the area.
“There’s an orthopedic center there, an orthopedic office, but I don’t know if that occupies the whole floor, or if there are other offices on the floor,” he said, adding that “at least it was part of the ‘stage’. . ”
When police arrived at the second floor entrance, gunfire stopped, Captain Meulenberg said in a telephone interview. Officers entered and immediately found a victim, and as they continued their search, they found the body of the gunman, who was reportedly shot with a pistol, he said.
Chief Dalgleish said the casualties could have been a combination of workers and patients. None of the wounded were fatally wounded, police said, and no officers were injured in the attack, during which the gunman fired both weapons.
Captain Meulenberg said the number of gunshot wounds appeared to be “very low”, but that there were other injuries related to hundreds of people fleeing the building at the time of the attack. “Imagine a scene of massive chaos,” he said. “You can hear the echo of the shots.”
The Muskogee Police Department said the Tulsa Police Department had warned that the gunman may have dropped a bomb on a Muskogee residence about 50 miles southeast of Tulsa. Muskogee police evacuated the house and warned area residents to stay inside, the department said.
A bomb crew was heading to the residence Wednesday night and Muskogee police were working to obtain a search warrant to search the home.
Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum said at a news conference that some of the families of the victims had not yet been informed of what had happened.
“This has been the facility more than any other that has worked to save the lives of the people of this city,” Mr. Bynum. He praised “the wide range of first responders today who did not hesitate to respond to this act of violence.”
The White House said President Biden had been informed of the shooting, which occurred just eight days after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and 18 days after 10 people were killed. by a gunman in a supermarket. in Buffalo, NY
When asked about his response to Tulsa’s addition to the list of U.S. cities that have experienced mass shootings in recent weeks, Mr. Bynum said his “thoughts are with the victims here, many of whose families don’t even know about it.”
“If we want to have a political discussion, this is something that will be done in the future, but not tonight, not tonight,” Mr. Bynum.
Cliff Robertson, executive director of Saint Francis Hospital, said: “I think there will be a very bumpy road ahead of us.”
“But there are more than 10,000 people who are part of the health system of Sant Francesc who dedicate their lives every day to caring for people in need, to caring for all those who need it, and this meaningless, horrible, incomprehensible act will not change. that, ”Mr Robertson said.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement Wednesday night that today’s shooting in Tulsa was “a senseless act of violence and hatred.”
Ahead of the press conference, Captain Meulenberg said the firing had ceased and authorities were searching the building “floor by floor, room by room”.
“It’s a catastrophic scene right now,” Captain Meulenberg told reporters outside the hospital.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said on Twitter that police had responded to an “active shooter incident” near East 61st Street and South Yale Avenue in Tulsa and next to Saint Francis Hospital.
“Please stay away from the area and give in to all emergency vehicles while we deal with this response,” Chief Franklin said.
The Tulsa Police Department said on Twitter that it had set up a reunion site for families at Memorial High School.
Jason Bailey contributed to the report, and Jack Begg and Sheelagh McNeill contributed to the investigation.