Tulsa hospital campus gunman targeted surgeon he blamed for pain: Police

The gunman at Tulsa medical office blamed his surgeon for pain after a back surgery and had targeted the doctor, who was among the four killed. The authorities said he had purchased an AR-style rifle hours before the fatal shooting.

The man who opened fire at a Tulsa medical office had purchased an AR-style rifle hours before fatally shooting four people, authorities said Thursday. Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin says the gunman had recently undergone back surgery and had called a clinic repeatedly complaining of pain.

Franklin says the doctor who performed the surgery, Dr. Preston Phillips, was among those killed Wednesday.

“We also have a letter on the suspect, which made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way,” Franklin said. “He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”

Authorities said the gunman carried a rifle and handgun during the shooting at the medical building on a hospital campus, the latest in a series of deadly mass shootings across the country in recent weeks.

Wednesday's shooting on the campus of Saint Francis Health System happened the same week that families in Uvalde, Texas, began burying the dead from the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade.

The victims and gunman in Tulsa were found on the second floor of a medical office where an orthopedic clinic is located, police said. The shooter, whose name has not been released, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said.

The hospital said in a statement that it was “grieving the loss of four members of our community” but did not immediately identify the dead.