Police officers arrived within 4 minutes, shooter killed himself
The U.S. recorded the 233rd mass shooting for the year 2022 as Tulsa police confirmed that a shooter killed four people at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday.
The 233rd figure is as per data collected by the Gun Violence Archive which characterizes a mass shooting as four or more shot or killed, not including the shooter.
“Four innocents and one shooter” are dead, Jonathan Brooks of the Tulsa police department said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Police have not yet identified the shooter and said that he died following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The shooter had a rifle and a handgun on him, Brooks said.
Tulsa police said in a Facebook post just before 6 p.m. local time that the shooter was dead.
“Officers are currently going through every room in the building checking for additional threats,” police said at the time. “We know there are multiple injuries, and potentially multiple casualties.”
Tulsa police Capt. Richard Meulenberg said multiple people were wounded; he called it a “catastrophic scene.”
St. Francis Health System locked down its campus Wednesday afternoon because of the situation at the Natalie Medical Building. The Natalie building houses an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
Aerial footage from a TV helicopter appeared to show first responders wheeling someone on a stretcher away from the hospital building.
Dozens of police cars could be seen outside the hospital complex, and authorities shut down traffic as the investigation went on.
A reunification center for families to find their loved ones was set up at a nearby high school.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene, a spokesperson said.