The author of a new shooting carried out in the United States, on the afternoon of this Wednesday (1st) in Tulsa, had bought the semi-automatic weapon with which he killed four people on the same day. According to local police, the man targeted a doctor who had operated on his back in the action.
The episode came days after two other massacres — at an elementary school in Texas, with 21 dead, and at a supermarket in New York, with 10 — resurrected the country’s gun control debate. The fact that the Tulsa sniper acquired the rifle hours before the action adds an element to the discussion.
Police identified the suspect as Michael Lewis, a resident of Muskogee, and said they found a letter signed by him making it clear that the attack had a specific target: surgeon Preston Phillips, 59. which he was discharged on the 24th, and in the following days he complained of acute pain to the doctor.
“Lewis came in [no complexo do hospital St. Francis] with the aim of killing Dr. Phillips and anyone else who crossed his path,” Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin told a news conference on Thursday. receptionist Amanda Glenn and William Love, a patient at the medical center.
In the attack, the sniper used an AR-15 rifle and a pistol. According to Franklin, the first gun was purchased at a specialty store on Wednesday, hours before. The revolver had been purchased from a pawn shop three days ago.
Tulsa police were called to the hospital at 4:52 pm (local time; 6:52 pm GMT) and arrived at the medical center three minutes later. The agents then heard gunshots on the second floor, where the offices are located, and found the bodies of the victims and the shooter at 5:01 pm. All were killed in the same environment.
The corporation highlighted the quick action, especially after police in Uvalde, Texas, were criticized for the delay with which they acted in the massacre last week. At the time, agents waited for more than an hour to enter the classrooms where the shooter was.
In addition to the four deaths, Lewis’ action left other people injured, but none in critical condition. Most, according to security forces, were injured while trying to flee, not because they were shot.
The White House said US President Joe Biden had contacted local officials to offer support. Hours earlier, he had released a statement commemorating 101 years of a massacre in which white supremacists attacked a black neighborhood. A year ago he was in town to commemorate the centenary of the case.
On Wednesday, shortly after the attack, when asked at a press conference about the fact that Tulsa was added to the list of targets for shootings in the US, the mayor, Republican GT Bynum, preferred to regret the case and express solidarity with the victims’ families. . “If we want to have a political debate, it’s something to be done in the future, not tonight.”
The issue was brought up because of the debate over gun control in the country. Nine days ago, a massacre at Robb School in Texas ended with 19 children and 2 teachers dead. The author, an 18-year-old, carried an AR-15 rifle and, before being responsible for the worst massacre at a children’s educational institution in the country in a decade, he also shot his grandmother.
Salvador Ramos had no history of mental illness or a criminal record, but he made threatening posts on social media before the shooting. He was killed by the police in the action.
The case in the city of Uvalde came days after another episode in Buffalo, New York, in which ten people died in a supermarket. The author had racist motives and should be indicted for domestic terrorism. After the attack in Texas, President Joe Biden gave an emotional speech in which he criticized the pro-gun lobby in the country and defended the control on access to weapons.
Republicans such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump, however, have rejected calls for new measures and instead have suggested investing in mental health or strengthening school safety. Last Thursday, senators from the party blocked discussions of a bill against domestic terrorism, a first attempt by Democrats to respond to the most recent attacks in the country.
