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Tulsa shooter was out for doctor who treated him, and anyone who got in the way, reported motive reveals

June 2, 2022 | | Print Article

The Tulsa hospital mass shooter has been identified as Michael Louis, a 45-year-old black man who on Wednesday reportedly killed four people, including his surgeon, and then committed suicide, all because he’d blamed the surgeon for his post-surgery back pain.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Preston Phillips performed surgery on Louis late last month. In the days that followed, Louis kept calling into the office “complaining of pain” and demanding “additional treatment,” according to Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin.

“Yesterday, June the 1st, Louis called Dr. Phillips’ office again, complaining of back pain and wanting additional assistance,” Franklin said during a press conference Thursday.

He added that Louis legally purchased a handgun on May 29th and a rifle on June 1st, the day of the mass shooting.

Louis then showed up at St. Francis Hospital’s Natalie Medical Building, walked up to the second floor, and killed Phillips.

The other three victims have been identified as orthopedist Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn, and random patient William Love.

According to Franklin, Glenn and Love “stood in the way, and Louis gunned them down.”

A note was later found containing Louis’s motivation. He “made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way. He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery,” according to Franklin.

Louis’ family for their part are reportedly disgusted by his actions.

“We are so distraught. I don’t even want to be associated because I’m so disgusted,” his niece told The Daily Beast, adding that she’d rather remain anonymous.

“It’s just so shocking. Like, if he had killed himself, okay. But those innocent people, that’s what I’m hurting about,” she added.

Phillips’, Husen’s and Glenn’s colleagues meanwhile are struggling to process what happened.

“I know that all of my colleagues went into medicine to help people. We are supposed to be the ones that are caring for others during tragedies like this. To think that our caregivers were the victims is just incomprehensible to me. They died while serving others. They died in the line of duty,” Ryan Elizabeth Parker, the associate chief medical officer at St. Francis, said during Thursday’s presser.

“But this is the reality of our world right now. And today, our world, and our St. Francis family, are devastated. We were just starting to process the grief and emotions that being on the frontline of a pandemic had left with us, and now this tragedy.”

According to The Washington Post, during the shooting Louis used both the handgun and the rifle he’d purchased: “Authorities said they recovered a total of 37 bullet casings at the hospital — 30 from the AR-15-style rifle and seven from the handgun.”

The shooting reportedly started close to 5:00 pm.

“A third party on a video chat with a doctor called 911, saying the doctor told her to call and say there was a shooting. At 4:53 p.m., the 911 caller said there was a shooter in a building. There were then multiple calls about a shooter being on the second floor,” Heavy.com reported.

“At 4:55 p.m., a person called and clarified which building. A minute later, the first Tulsa police officers arrived to the five-story medical office building with numerous offices, rooms and hallways.”

The officers then walked up to the second floor and began yelling “Tulsa police!” That’s when they heard a gunshot. They believe it was Louis committing suicide.

Vivek Saxena
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