The victims of the shooting at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, were named on Thursday morning. Dr Preston Phillips, Dr Stephanie J Husen, Amanda Green and William Love died when a man carrying a rifle and a handgun entered their building on a hospital campus on Wednesday to carry out the latest in a series of US mass shootings.
The spate of gun violence has included the killing of 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school and the killing of 10 people in a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. Democrats have amplified their calls for greater restrictions on guns.
Tulsa police said the gunman was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted wound.
The Tulsa police chief, Wendell Franklin, released the names of the victims. Phillips, Husen and Green, a receptionist, worked in the medical complex. Love was a patient.
“They stood in the way and [the suspect] gunned them down,” Franklin said.
Franklin said the suspect had back surgery on 19 May and after being released from hospital on 24 May complained to his surgeon, Dr Phillips, about pain. On 31 May, after requesting additional treatment, the gunman had a follow-up appointment.
On 1 June, at approximately 2pm CT, the suspect bought an AR-15 style rifle from a local gun shop. He also had a handgun, purchased from a local pawnshop on 29 May. Police confirmed that both purchases were legal.
After parking in the garage on the second floor of the hospital, the gunman entered the Natalie medical building. Police confirmed that the entry the gunman used is open-access and that the gunman was able to walk into the building undeterred.
Franklin said the first call to police was at 4.52pm, from a patient whose doctor asked them to call 911 during a telehealth visit. Police arrived at 4.56pm, entering the first floor of the hospital. While on the second floor, two minutes later, officers reported hearing a gunshot. They believe it was the sound of the gunman killing himself. The gunman was found deceased in the lobby of Dr Phillips’ office.
Franklin said a letter was found on the gunman, detailing his desire to kill Phillips because of the back pain he was experiencing. Police also said the wife of the suspect notified police that her husband was shooting people in the hospital and confirmed his motivation.
Police said the suspect’s wife did not know about her husband’s plans and was contacted by him as he was about to arrive to the hospital or during the attack. They said both guns were fired.
Franklin said there was no current information that the shooting was racially motivated against Phillips, who was Black. Police were working to determine if the gunman had any history with law enforcement.
Dr Cliff Robertson, president and chief executive of Saint Francis Health System, called Phillips “the consummate gentleman” and “a man that we should all strive to emulate”.
The three employees who were killed were “the three best people in the entire world” and “didn’t deserve to die this way”, he added.
Saint Francis management said additional victims were treated and released. Officials did not confirm how many people were injured or how many injuries were from gunshots.
On Wednesday a police captain, Richard Meulenberg, said multiple people were wounded and the medical complex was a “catastrophic scene”.
Police and hospital officials said they were not ready to identify the dead.
Hospital staff said they were provided training and educational modules regarding mass shootings, but no actual drills had taken place before Wednesday’s attack.
The recent Memorial Day weekend saw multiple mass shootings nationwide, including at a festival in Taft, Oklahoma, 45 miles from Tulsa. Single-death incidents accounted for most gun fatalities.
Since January, there have been 12 shootings where four or more people have been killed, according to an Associated Press/USA Today/Northeastern University mass killing database. Those shootings have left 76 dead, including 31 adults and children in Buffalo and Texas. The death toll does not include the suspects.
The length of time it took officers in Uvalde, Texas, to engage the gunman at Robb elementary school has become a focus of that investigation. Officers waited more than an hour.
In Tulsa, St Francis Health System locked down its campus because of the situation at the Natalie medical building, which also houses an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
“This campus is sacred ground for our community,“ said the Tulsa mayor, GT Bynum. “For decades, this campus has been a place where heroes come to work every day to save the lives of people in our community.
“Right now, my thoughts are with the victims. If we want to have a policy discussion, that is something to be had in the future, but not tonight.”
Philip Tankersley, 27, was leaving his father’s room at St Francis hospital when staff said there was an active shooter across the street, locked doors and warned them to stay away from windows.
Tankersley said he and his mother sheltered in his father’s room for more than an hour, trying to learn information from TV news and passing nurses. He said they heard “code silver” and “level one trauma” announced on hospital speakers.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene. A reunification center for families was set up at a high school.