Four Killed By Gunman In Oklahoma Hospital, Days After Texas School Shooting Claimed 21 Lives

Four people have been killed by a gunman carrying a rifle and a handgun at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus in Oklahoma on Wednesday.

The gunman was later shot dead by the police, taking the number of lives lost in the incident to five. The condition of one of the injured is said to be critical.

Reuters

Shooter was armed with two guns

"We now have 5 dead, including the shooter, in the active shooter situation at the Natalie Building on the St. Francis Hospital Campus," Tulsa Police tweeted.

Tulsa Police Captain Richard Meulenberg said the shooter was reported "down" around 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday and the situation at the St. Francis Hospital campus, which was active for about four to five minutes, was being treated as "a catastrophic scene".

The shooter was armed with a rifle and a handgun and fired both weapons at the Natalie Medical Building, a physicians' office on the premises, according to Tulsa Police Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish.

AFP

It was unclear what prompted the deadly assault in Tulsa, Dalgleish said.

¡°It appears both weapons at one point or another were fired on the scene," Dalgleish said. ¡°The officers who arrived were hearing shots in the building, and that's what led them to the second floor."

Police responded to the call about three minutes after dispatchers received the report at 4:52 p.m. and made contact with the gunman roughly five minutes later, at 5:01 p.m. Dalgleish said.

Reuters

Dalgleish said the shooter's fatal wound was self-inflicted. Police have not identified victims or anyone specifically targeted by the gunman.

Texas school shooting

Wednesday's mass shooting comes at a time when there is an increase in demand to control gun ownership in the wake of the recent incidents.

Last week 19 students and two adults were gunned down by an 18-year-old gunman at Robb Elementary School in the heavily Latino town of Uvalde in Texas.

There have been 213 mass shootings in the first 21 weeks of 2022 in the US, including 27 school shootings and up to approximately 10 mass shootings every week, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Reuters

Yet another attempt to control guns

On Wednesday, it was reported that the House of Representatives is beginning to put its stamp on gun legislation in response to mass shootings.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday to advance legislation that would raise the age limit for purchasing a semi-automatic centerfire rifle from 18 to 21. The bill would make it a federal offense to import, manufacture or possess large-capacity magazines and would create a grant program to buy back such magazines. It also builds on the executive branch¡¯s ban on bump-stock devices and so-called ghost guns that are privately made without serial numbers.

AP

The Democratic legislation, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, was quickly added to the legislative docket after last week's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. A vote by the full House could come as early as next week.

(With agency inputs)

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