The suspected gunman in the fatal shooting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday purchased the AR-15-style rifle used in the attack earlier that day, according to local police.
A rifle and a pistol were used in the onslaught that killed four people and injured 10 more at the Natalie Medical Building at St. Francis Hospital, authorities said. The rifle was purchased at a local gun retailer on Wednesday, and the pistol recovered by police had also been purchased by the gunman at a pawn shop on Sunday, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said on Thursday.
“Law enforcement across the nation is dealing with increased violence among people. This is just another act of violence upon an American city,” Franklin said.
WATCH: JOY BEHAR CALLS AR-STYLE RIFLES ‘WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION’
Authorities in Oklahoma say the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting in Tulsa purchased an ‘AR-15 style rifle’ just hours before killing four people at St. Francis Hospital. Two of the victims were identified as doctors. pic.twitter.com/KKoz2vwvsj
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The gunman, identified by police on Thursday as Michael Louis, died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound as officers arrived on the scene.
Police found a letter on Louis, 45, which said he intended to shoot up the hospital due to pain he had been experiencing after a surgery there in May, Franklin said. Dr. Preston Phillips, the doctor who performed Louis’s surgery, was specifically targeted and was among the victims killed in the shooting.
The three other victims in the shooting were identified as Dr. Stephanie Husen, Amanda Glenn, and William Love. Glenn worked at the hospital as a receptionist, while Love was a patient.
“They stood in the way, and Louis gunned them down,” the police chief said.
Louis had visited the hospital on May 19 to undergo back surgery, and was released from the hospital on May 24, Franklin said. Shortly after being released, Louis began calling the hospital to complain of ongoing pain and sought additional treatment.
Phillips saw Louis for additional treatment on Tuesday, the day before the shooting, but Louis called again on Wednesday about his back pain.
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 Wedneaday ebening. He said officers arrived at the building within four minutes and “made contact” with the suspect and the victims at 5:01 p.m.
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.” Oklahoma’s Republican governor, Kevin Stitt, condemned the shooting and offered Bynum “any state resources that may be needed.”
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The shooting 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.
