There was a press conference in Tulsa this morning where Police Chief Wendell Franklin identified the four victims killed in the attack and the shooter. The victims were Dr. Preston Phillips, Dr. Stephanie Hussein, Amanda Green and William Love. The shooter was identified as Michael Louis.
Dr. Phillips was an orthopedic surgeon at St. Francis. He had undergone back surgery at St. Francis on May 19, exactly two weeks ago. Louis was released from the hospital on May 24 and spent several days calling and complaining he was in pain. Louis returned to the hospital on May 31 for additional treatment but on Wednesday, Louis called Dr. Phillips office to again complain of back pain.
Apparently, Louis didn’t like what he was told because at 2pm he went to a local gun store and bought an “AR-15-style” rifle. He had previously purchased a semi-automatic pistol on May 29, just prior to his 2nd treatment.
At 4:52 pm the first 911 call came in about a shooting at St. Francis. More calls were received within minutes including one that identified the 2nd floor of the Natalie building, a five story medical office building on the St. Francis campus, as the site of the shooting. Officers arrived at 4:56 pm and started heading up to the 2nd floor.
Officers were yelling “Tulsa police” as they advanced toward the shooter’s location. They heard one final gunshot which they believe was the shooter taking his own life. That was at 4:58 pm. Tulsa’s police chief didn’t say this, but this is a fairly common response from mass shooters, about 40% of whom kill themselves according to FBI resources. About a third of those suicides happen when they hear police arrive. It’s another reason police are trained to immediately head for the active shooter and confront them.
Officers eventually recovered 30 casings from the rifle and seven from the pistol. Louis had a letter in his pocket “which made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips,” Chief Franklin said. Police subsequently heard from the shooter’s wife who apparently called police to report what he’d done about a half hour after the shooting. Police believe she didn’t know about Louis’ plan in advance but learned of it from Louis either immediately before or possibly during the attack.
Yesterday evening there were reports of a bomb threat at the suspect’s home address in Muskogee. The police didn’t have any additional information about that.
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Finally, one of the doctors at the press conference descripted Dr. Phillips as “the consumate gentleman” and “a man we should all strive to emulate.”
Here’s the full press conference.
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Update: News on 6 in Tulsa posted this mug shot of Michael Louis during their coverage of the press conference.
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