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tulsaworld.com
MASS SHOOTING AT SAINT FRANCIS HOSPITAL CAMPUS
ATTACKER KILLS 4
IAN MAULE, TULSA WORLD
Two people hug outside Memorial High School, where people were evacuated from the scene of a mass shooting at the Natalie Medical Building at 64th Street and Yale Avenue on Wednesday.
‘Catastrophic scene’ described in offices in medical building JACOB FACTOR
Tulsa World
Tulsa police described a “catastrophic scene” inside a medical office building in south Tulsa where five people died and multiple more were injured during a mass shooting on Wednesday afternoon. The shooter, who took his own life, was armed with a rifle and a handgun as he entered Saint Francis Health System’s Natalie Building, 6475 S. Yale Ave., and began shooting both guns just before 5 p.m., Tulsa Police Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said. Police said the shooting occurred in an orthopedic clinic on the Natalie Building’s second floor. Saint Francis Hospital’s online directory says Warren Clinic Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine and orthopedic urgent care is located on the second floor, with nine physicians listed. Saint Francis Health System released a statement Wednesday night saying it is “grieving the loss of four members of our family,” but it did not release the names or positions of those killed or injured. The orthopedic offices will be closed until further notice, the statement says. The shooter’s identity had not been released by Wednesday night, but information from the Muskogee Police Department indicates that he might be from that city and might have left a bomb in his house before coming to Tulsa. The exact time the shooter began firing is not known yet, Dalgleish said, but the first 911 call was reported to officers at 4:52 p.m. The first officers arrived at 4:56 p.m. and could hear gunshots leading them to the second floor, where they made contact with the victims and the shooter at 5:01 p.m., Dalgleish said. A Tulsa police spokesperson said there were multiple injuries but that police had not received a total count of injured people. Officers searched the building floor by floor looking for potential victims and res-
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cuing people who had been hiding from the gunman. Saint Francis Health Systems CEO Cliff Robertson said during a press conference late Wednesday evening that the most powerful thing anyone can do right now is pray. “There is nothing more this community can do for us than pray for the families and loved ones of the victims of this senseless act,” Robertson said. “It will be a very bumpy road ahead of us. “There are over 10,000 of us who are part of the Saint Francis Health System that every day commit their lives to taking care of people in need. This horrible, incomprehensible act is not going to change that.” Mayor G.T. Bynum went to the hospital Wednesday evening and during the press conference challenged Tulsa residents to think about the doctors and nurses who work at Saint Francis and how much they mean to the Tulsa community. “I know there are so many people out there who want to know what you can do to support the community and Saint Francis Health System through this tragedy,” Bynum said. “I don’t have one thing right now. I would ask you to think about the Saint Francis Health System and what the people that work there mean to our community, what they mean to you and your family. The heroes who protect you. Think about what you can do to show your support for them in the midst of this tragedy.” When asked about the slew of mass shootings that have happened around the country since the Buffalo, New York, shooting in May, Bynum said he is focusing on Tulsa’s victims and that talks about policy change can come later. “Right now my thoughts are with the victims here, many of whose families don’t even know about this yet,” Bynum said. “If we want to have a policy discussion, that is Please see SHOOTING, Page A3
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Emergency personnel stand outside the Natalie Building after responding in force to the mass shooting.
IAN MAULE, TULSA WORLD
Law enforcement officers keep the area around the building and its parking garage cordoned off after the shootings. LATEST: For the most updated coverage from the shooting on the campus at Saint Francis in Tulsa, point your smartphone camera at the QR code, then tap the link.
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