The suspect “came in with the intent to kill Dr[Preston] 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.
Phillips,59,the surgeon who treated Lewis,was killed along with Dr Stephanie Husen,a 48-year-old sports medicine specialist.
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.
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“They stood in the way and[the suspect] gunned them down,” Franklin said. The gunman,who police said lived in Muskogee,Oklahoma,about 80 kilometres 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,Franklin said.
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 firearm ownership and the role of mental health in theepidemic of gun violence plaguing the US.
“Enough is enough. This must stop. Hospitals are pillars of our communities,” Chip Kahn,chief executive of the Federation of American Hospitals,said.