Tulsa police confirmed a shooting in Tulsa hospital where five people died from gun shots.
A shooter whom the police have not yet identified, stormed and opened fire at the Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Wednesday.
He had opened fire on the second floor of an orthopedic center, a crime the police said was premeditated.
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Tulsa Police Department Captain Richard Meulenberg described the shooting as purposeful.
“He very purposefully went to this location, went to a very specific floor, and shot with very specific purpose,” he said.
“This was not a random shooting by this individual.”
The Tulsa Police boss also told newsmen thus:
“It was just madness inside, with hundreds of rooms and hundreds of people trying to get out of the building.”
Confirming the deaths, Jonathan Brooks of the Tulsa police department said “Four innocents and one shooter” are dead.
Police believe that the shooter killed four persons and shot himself.
According to Brooks, the shooter “died following a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The shooter had a rifle and a handgun on him.”
“Officers are currently going through every room in the building checking for additional threats.”
“We know there are multiple injuries, and potentially multiple casualties.”
Tulsa police boss, Meulenberg confirmed that multiple people were wounded.
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Fewer than 10 people suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Meulenberg said.
He said authorities are trying to determine if they were wounded by gunfire or during the chaos of escaping the scene, he said. No officers were injured.
He called it a “catastrophic scene.”
How police swooped into action immediately:
The police said law enforcement received a call just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.
The call was about an individual with a firearm at the Natalie Medical Building on the campus of St. Francis Hospital.
Responding officers who arrived within minutes “were hearing shots in the building, and that’s what directed them to the second floor,” Dalgleish said.
However, on getting to the building on the second floor, they found the gunman dead.
They also discovered two weapons; a “semiautomatic rifle” and “a semiautomatic pistol” lying next to the shooter.
Equally, the police found two other dead victims in the same room as the gunman.
Police are yet to identify the victims.
It was still unclear whether the four victims were medical staffers, patients or visitors.
Witnesses Speak:
Some witnesses spoke about the unfortunate event.
One witness, Lachelle Nathan told CNN, that she knew it was a shooting case when she saw police entering the hospital with their weapons drawn.
She had arrived in her car with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren for a doctor’s appointment.
“It’s awful, it’s sad. My daughter-in-law is from Buffalo, so now it’s so close to home, it’s not even safe if you come outside anymore, you know?”
Top states by gun death rates:
Tulsa shooting becomes the 233rd mass shooting for the year in the U.S.
This is according to data from by the Gun Violence Archive.
The archive characterizes a mass shooting as comprising shots or deaths of four or more, not including the shooter.
Moreover, ten people died in a racist assault at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, on May 14.
Also, another mass shooting followed at a church in California on May 15.
Following that was another heartbreaking massacre at an elementary school in South Texas on May 24 where at least 21 persons died.
It however, becomes obvious that where there are more guns, there are more gun death rates.
Where there are fewer guns, there are fewer gun deaths.
Therefore, here are top states in America with highest gun death rates.
Texas has the highest gun deaths as compared with other states. this is according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Texas suffered 4,164 gun deaths in 2020. This is a rate of 14.2 deaths per 100,000 Texans.
The top states by gun death rates are:
- Mississippi — 28.6.
- Louisiana — 26.3.
- Wyoming — 25.9.
- Missouri — 23.9.
- Alabama — 23.6.
- Alaska — 23.5.
Similarly, data by the RAND Corporation, a non-profit research organization, listed the following states.
It said the following states top the list for gun death rates between 2007 and 2016.
- Mississippi — 50% of adults live in a household with a gun.
- Louisiana — 48%.
- Wyoming — 59%.
- Missouri — 48%.
- Alabama — 50%.
- Alaska — 59%.
Like we said earlier, where there are fewer guns, there are fewer gun deaths.
States with the lowest gun death rates in 2020, per the CDC includes:
- Hawaii — 3.4 (8% of adults live in a household with a gun).
- Massachusetts — 3.7 (10%).
- New Jersey — 5 (8%).
- Rhode Island — 5.1 (11%).
- New York — 5.3 (14%).
Meanwhile, going by the rates, it is clear that states with lax gun laws have the highest gun death rates.
Data from Everytown’s analysis of FBI, revealed the cities with lax gun laws and having highest gun homicide rates in 2020.
- Jackson, Mississippi — 69 gun homicides per 100,000 people.
- Gary, Indiana — 64.
- St. Louis — 50.
- New Orleans — 48.
- Memphis, Tennessee — 47.
Stakeholders call for gun control:
House Democrats are looking to pass a gun control bills. This is in response to the various shootings in the states.
House Judiciary Committee Chair, Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., has summoned committee lawmakers to mark up gun legislation.
The legislation combines eight separate bills.
The bill seeks to raise the age limit at which a person can own or purchase a gun.
Stakeholders argue that an 18-year-old should not have access to a gun.
In the US, less than 18-year-olds can walk up to a gun store and purchase a gun.
This gun lax has led to many teenagers and younger persons possessing firearms and engaging in mass shootings.
Consequently, stakeholders are calling for on the government to raise the age limit at which a person can own a gun.
The Raise the Age Act would lift the age to purchase a gun for semiautomatic rifles from 18 to 21.
A similar bill, the Keep Americans Safe Act, seeks to bar ownership of large-capacity magazines.
Among other bills the House committee will face includes the following:
- The Raise the Age Act
- Prevent Gun Trafficking Act
- The Untraceable Firearms Act
- Ethan’s Law
- The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act
- The Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safety Storage Act
- Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act
- The Keep Americans Safe Act
Implications:
It has become a recurring occurrence for mass shooting in the U.S.
Citizens need to become alert about their surroundings.
Public places such as schools, stores and churches should have more security personnel guiding them.
The society needs to discourage bullying at, especially schools as this leads many suspects to engaging in mass shootings.
Gun control is the only way Americans can protect it citizens.
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