Four people were killed as a gunman opened fire inside an Oklahoma hospital Wednesday, authorities said.
The gunman, described as 35 to 40 years old and armed with a rifle and a handgun, appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Tulsa Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish told reporters.
Tulsa Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg said the gunman fired that shot as officers were kicking in a stairwell door to gain access to the Tulsa medical building where the gunfire erupted.
As many as 10 people could have been wounded in the shooting, Meulenberg said. No injuries were considered life-threatening, he said.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5 p.m. inside the Natalie Building at St. Francis Hospital, authorities said. The victims, whose identities have not been released, appeared to be a combination of patients and employees, Dalgleish said.
Part of the shooting appears to have occurred inside an orthopedic facility on the building's second floor, Dalgleish said.
The gunman and his motive have not been identified.
Dalgleish said authorities arrived at the hospital at 4:56 p.m., 4 minutes after reports of gunfire were first called into officials. Officers heard gunfire and found the gunman and victims on the second floor at 5:01 p.m., he said.
Tulsa Mayor G. T. Bynum pointed to the quick response and said that police officers "did not hesitate today to respond to this act of violence."
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting, and the White House said it has reached out to state and local officials to offer support.
Representatives for the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have also responded to the scene, agency officials said.
The deadly shooting came a little more than a week after an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.
And over the Memorial Day weekend, nine people were killed and more than 60 others were injured in mass shootings across the U.S., according to an organization that tracks shootings.
On Tuesday in New Orleans, a woman was killed and two men were injured in a shooting near a high school graduation venue on the campus of Xavier University, police said.
