Five dead, including suspect, in Tulsa shooting

The suspected gunman is also dead, the Tulsa Police Department announced on social media. Police believe the shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound and said no responding officers were injured. The suspect, a black man, was described as roughly 35-40 years old. A name has not been provided, but police have said they are working to identify the suspect. Multiple other people were wounded, according to officials.

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TPD said the department received a call in the afternoon about a man with a rifle at the Natalie Medical Building at St. Francis Hospital and that this turned into an active shooter situation.

“At this point, we can confirm the shooter is down at this time. Officers are currently going through every room in the building checking for additional threats. We know there are multiple injuries, and potentially multiple casualties,” TPD said in a Facebook post around 6 p.m. local time.

Police initially reported four dead, including the shooter. That number was later revised to five. Officers arrived at the scene of the shooting, on the second floor of the building, within minutes of receiving a call about an active shooter at 4:52 p.m., according to information offered by Deputy Police Chief Eric Dalgleish during a press briefing around 7:15 p.m. local time. He said officers arrived at the building within four minutes and “made contact” with the suspect and the victims at 5:01 p.m.

Police said the shooter had a rifle and a handgun. Officers who arrived heard shots in the building that directed them to the scene, Dalgleish said in the press briefing.

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum heralded “the broad range of first responders today who did not hesitate today to respond to this act of violence.”

Tulsa City Councilor Jayme Fowler told KOTV that the gunman was seeking out a particular doctor at the hospital.

“From what I understand is that the shooter had an issue with a specific physician and the shooter could not find this physician, and that elicited, you know, his behavior at the shootings,” Fowler told CNN.

Police have not confirmed this claim and noted that the victims could have been among patients, visitors, or staff. Authorities are notifying the families of the victims, police Capt. Richard Meulenberg told CNN.

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The state’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, condemned the shooting as “a senseless act of violence and hatred” and said he and his wife are praying for the families of the victims.

“I am grateful for the quick and brave actions of the Tulsa Police Department and other first responders who did their best to contain a terrible situation,” Stitt wrote on social media. “I have offered Mayor G.T. Bynum any state resources that may be needed, and I ask all Oklahomans to come together in support of the Saint Francis Health System community and to grieve with those whose lives have been forever changed.”

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All roads were closed in the area, and police advised the public to steer clear of the hospital at 61st and Yale. Police asked family members and friends to go to Memorial High School west of LaFortune Park for a reunification site.

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting. The White House said it is “closely monitoring the situation” and has contacted state and local officials to offer support.

Roughly 50 miles southeast of Tulsa, the Muskogee Police Department announced that TPD had notified it at approximately 7:30 p.m. of a possible bomb inside a residence located at Park Place North, the threat of which a Muskogee police official said was connected to the hospital shooting. A subsequent search of the home yielded no explosives, according to News On 6.

https://twitter.com/BDormanTV/status/1532161668616073217?s=20&t=gT9NR-6_pAz1wOvjXbfr1w”Please avoid the Country Club area at this time as it is a very active scene and additional traffic could hinder first responders at this time,” MPD wrote on social media. “We will update when information becomes available.”

An investigation is now underway. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives from its Tulsa office were sent to the scene to provide assistance, the ATF Dallas Field Division tweeted.

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The St. Francis Health System posted to social media on Wednesday evening, saying it will not comment on or release the names of those killed or injured at this time. The same post also expressed gratitude to first responders and noted appointment cancellations as well as closures.

The violence in Tulsa follows a deadly mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last week that killed 21 people, including 19 children, and a racially motivated mass shooting in a Buffalo, New York, supermarket less than two weeks before that attack that killed 10 black people. The shootings have prompted a new push for gun access reforms by the White House and in Congress.