On Wednesday, a man armed with a rifle and a handgun killed four people inside a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before fatally shooting himself, according to authorities, in the latest in a string of mass shootings throughout the country.
A police officer instantly pulled a high-powered gun from the boot of his car as first responders arrived on the St. Francis Hospital grounds, according to eyewitness footage. The medical institution was then surrounded by armed cops.
On Wednesday afternoon, three minutes after getting a report about the gunshot, police arrived at the medical center.
Tulsa deputy police chief Eric Dalgleish told reporters that officers followed the sound of gunshots up to the second level of the Natalie Building.
Five minutes later, the cops made touch with the victims and the suspect, according to Dalgleish.
After a shooter slaughtered 19 students and two teachers in a Texas school classroom last week while authorities waited outside for almost an hour, police actions have come under heightened scrutiny.
“I think that’s certainly fresh on everyone’s thoughts,” Dalgleish said when reporters asked if police had reviewed their training or thought about active shooters in the aftermath of the Uvalde, Texas school massacre.
“Tulsa, I believe, revisits the subject on a regular basis. I was pleased with what we had learned thus far about our officers’ responses “According to Dalgleish.
Tulsa’s shooting happened after a series of horrific shootings that re-ignited concerns about gun control. A white shooter killed ten people in a grocery in a Black area in Buffalo, New York, two weeks before the Uvalde shooting.
Tulsa police said they were still attempting to figure out who the culprit was, and that he was between the ages of 35 and 40. They also claimed they didn’t know what he was up to.
Dalgleish said the Natalie Building houses doctors’ offices, including an orthopedic facility, and that the deaths were likely staff and patients.
President Joe Biden was informed on the incident and extended assistance to state and local officials in Tulsa, a metropolis of 411,000 people located about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City, according to the White House.
