A man carrying a rifle and pistol opened fire at a medical office building in Tulsa, Okla, on Wednesday afternoon, killing four people and wounding several others before apparently taking his own life in the latest mass shooting to shock the country, authorities said. said.
At a news conference Wednesday night, Eric Dalglish, deputy head of the Tulsa police department, said it was unclear whether the attacker had targeted anyone.
The shooter’s identity has not been established, but he is between 35 and 40 years old, said Chief Dalglish.
Police received a call to the shooting at 4:52 p.m. and arrived at the scene four minutes later, the Dalgleish chief said. The entire shooting is believed to have taken place in one part of the second floor of Natalie’s medical building on the campus of St. Francis Hospital, he said. The sound of gunfire drew officers to the area.
“There is an orthopedic center, an orthopedic office, but I don’t know if it occupies the whole floor or there are other offices on the floor,” he said, adding that it was “at least part of the stage.”
The Dalgleish chief said the victims could be a combination of workers and patients. None of the wounded were life-threatening, police said, and no one was injured in the attack, in which the attacker fired both weapons.
The Muskogi Police Department said it had been warned by the Tulsa Police Department that the shooter may have left a bomb at a residence in Muskogi, about 50 miles southeast of Tulsa. Muskogi police evacuated the home and told people in the area to stay inside, the department said.
A bomb squad is on its way to the residence late Wednesday, and Muskoghi police are working to obtain a search warrant for the home.
The mayor of Tulsa’s GT Bynum told a news conference that some of the victims’ families had not yet been informed.
“This is the facility more than any other that has worked to save the lives of people in this city,” said Mr. Bynam. 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 was aware of the shooting, which came just eight days after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a mass shooting in Uwalde, Texas, and 18 days after 10 people were killed by gunmen at a supermarket. . in Buffalo, New York
Asked about his response to Tulsa’s accession to the list of American 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 it yet. ”
“If we want to have a political discussion, it has to be in the future, but not tonight, not tonight,” Mr Bynam said.
Cliff Robertson, CEO of St. Francis Hospital, said: “I think we will have a very bumpy road ahead of us.
“But there are over 10,000 people in St. Francis’ health care system who dedicate their lives every day to caring for people in need, caring for everyone in need, and this senseless, horrible, incomprehensible act will not change that.” said Mr Robertson.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a statement Wednesday night that the shooting in Tulsa today was “a senseless act of violence and hatred.”
Ahead of the press conference, Captain Richard Meulenberg of the Tulsa Police Department said the shooting had stopped and authorities were searching the building “floor by floor, room by room”.
“There’s a catastrophic scene right now,” Captain Meulenberg told reporters outside the hospital.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendall Franklin said on Twitter that police had responded to an “active shooting incident” near East 61st Street and South Yale Avenue in Tulsa and St. Francis Hospital.
The outpatient surgery at St. Francis Hospital and the Breast Center are in Natalie’s Medical Building.
“Please stay away from the area and surrender to all emergency vehicles while we deal with this response,” said Chief Franklin.
The Tulsa Police Department announced on Twitter that it has set up a family reunion site at Memorial High School.
Alex Traub and Jason Bailey contributed to the report, and Jack Beg and Sheila McNeill contributed to the study.
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