Oklahoma gunman who killed 4 targeted surgeon who treated him
- Tulsa shooting suspect Michael Louis allegedly blamed the doctor, who was one of the victims, for back pain he felt after the operation
- Police say he went to the medical building intending to kill Dr Preston Phillips and ‘anyone who came in his way’
A man who fatally shot five people including himself at an Oklahoma medical building, after buying an assault-style rifle on the same day, had gone there to kill a doctor who he blamed for back pain he felt after surgery, authorities said on Thursday.
The suspect, identified as Michael Louis, entered a building on Tulsa’s St Francis Health System campus with a semi-automatic weapon on Wednesday and opened fire at anyone he encountered, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said at a news briefing. Two doctors, a receptionist and a patient were killed.
Dr Preston Phillips, 59, the orthopaedic surgeon who treated the gunman, was killed along with Dr Stephanie Husen, a 48-year-old sports medicine specialist.
The suspect “came in with the intent to kill Dr Phillips and anyone who came in his way”, Franklin said. Authorities found a letter on the gunman that made it clear the attack was targeted.
Authorities named two other fatalities: Amanda Glenn, a receptionist, and William Love, a patient. The receptionist was initially identified as Amanda Green, but police later corrected the name on the department’s Facebook page.
“They stood in the way and [the suspect] gunned them down,” Franklin said. The gunman, who police said lived in Muskogee, Oklahoma, about 80km (50 miles) from Tulsa, had been released from the hospital on May 24 after back surgery, the police chief said. Afterwards, the man called several times complaining of pain.
The shooting comes on the heels of two other mass killings that have stunned Americans and reopened a long-standing debate over tightening controls on firearms ownership and the role of mental health in the epidemic of gun violence plaguing the United States.