A gunman killed at least three people at a hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, police said, as Americans mourned and raged over the school killing in Texas just over a week ago.
The gunman, who was equipped with a rifle, was also killed in the event, according to police, who did not specify whether he was shot by police or turned his weapon on himself.
We can confirm 4 people are deceased, including the shooter, in the active shooting situation at St. Francis hospital campus. Officers are still clearing the building. More info to follow,” Tulsa police tweeted from their official account.
Officers were characterizing the incident as “catastrophic,” with “many” persons shot and “several injuries,” according to police captain Richard Meulenberg.
The White House stated in a statement that US President Joe Biden had been updated on the Tulsa incident and that the administration had provided help to local officials.
The shooting is the latest in a succession of deadly gunman attacks in the United States over the last month.
On May 14, a white supremacist targeted African Americans in a grocery shop in Buffalo, New York, killing ten people. The shooter made it out alive and is now facing accusations.
Ten days later, a gunman using an AR-15 opened fire at a school in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21 people, 19 of them were children, before being shot by police.
Most Republicans and some Democrats in rural states are opposed to gun control in the United States.
However, Biden, who visited Uvalde over the weekend, promised earlier this week that he would “continue to push” for reform, saying, “I think things have become so awful that everybody is growing more rational about it.”
Some senior federal lawmakers have expressed cautious hope, as a bipartisan group of senators worked all weekend to find areas of agreement.
They were apparently focusing on rules that would raise the age for gun purchases or allow authorities to take guns away from persons deemed a threat to themselves or others, rather than an outright ban on high-powered rifles like those used in Uvalde and Buffalo.
