Tulsa Police officers responded to the scene of an active shooting on the St. Francis Hospital campus within minutes of the first call, arriving while the shooting was ongoing, Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said in a news conference Wednesday night.
“The officers that did arrive were hearing shots in the building, and that’s what directed them to the second floor,” he said.
The shooting took place in the Natalie Medical Building on the St. Francis campus.
“This campus is sacred ground for our community,” said Mayor G.T. Bynum, who praised the response of law enforcement. “Men and women of the Tulsa Police Department did not hesitate.”
Police say four victims were shot to death. It was not immediately clear whether the victims were medical staffers, patients or both. Dalgleish described the shooting scene as an orthopedic center.
Police said they were still working to identify the shooter and his motive. The shooter died from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and no police officers were injured, Dalgleish said.
“There will obviously be many questions, and there will be a very bumpy road, I think, ahead of us,” said Dr. Cliff Robertson, St. Francis Health System CEO, adding that the shooting was a “senseless, horrible, incomprehensible act.”