Multiple people were shot at St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday, and at least five people including the suspected shooter are dead, according to Tulsa City councilor Jayme Folwer. The police said the shooter was armed with a rifle and that it’s a “catastrophic scene” inside. The shooter reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“At this point, we can confirm the shooter is down at this time,” said Tulsa police. “Officers are currently going through every room in the building checking for additional threats.”
The shooting occurred at the hospital’s outpatient surgery center and breast health center, almost exactly 101 years after the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, in which a white mob attacked an area of the city known as “Black Wall Street” and killed an estimated 300 people. News of the shooting broke just hours after President Joe Biden marked the anniversary of the horrific event.
“We remember the hell that was unleashed,” Biden said in a statement. “This was not a riot, it was a massacre.”
An Oklahoma judge ruled in May that a lawsuit seeking reparations for the three surviving victims of the massacre can proceed.
“We want them to see justice in their lifetime,” civil rights attorney Damario Solomon-Simmons said after the decision was announced. “I’ve seen so many survivors die in my 20-plus years working on this issue. I just don’t want to see the last three die without justice. That’s why the time is of the essence.”
This is the second mass shooting in four days near Tulsa: On Sunday night, seven people were injured and one person was killed in a shooting at an outdoor festival about 45 miles from Tulsa. The victims ranged in age from 9 to 56, AP reported.
News of the Tulsa shooting unfolded Wednesday evening in tandem with two other active shootings—one at a Walmart in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and another at a high school in Los Angeles, California. “They’re happening at a pace we’ve never ever seen before in this nation’s history,” Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said on MSNBC in reaction to the Tulsa shooting.
Earlier on Wednesday, funerals continued for the 21 victims—19 children and two teachers—of the Uvalde mass shooting that happened just one week ago.
This is a developing story, and we will continue to update it with new information.