A man armed with a rifle and a handgun killed at least four people on Wednesday inside a hospital building in Tulsa, in the US state of Oklahoma, before killing himself, police say.
This new tragedy took place a few hours following the funeral, in the city of Uvalde, Texas, of the 21 people, including 19 children, victims of another massacre that occurred barely a week ago.
“We now have four dead civilians, we have one dead shooter,” Tulsa Deputy Police Chief Eric Dalgleish told reporters, adding that early evidence from the investigation is that the killer had ended his pursuits. days.
Police immediately responded to a call of a gunman inside the grounds of Saint Francis Hospital in downtown Tulsa and searched the building floor by floor, Dalgleish said.
The suspect, who has not yet been identified by authorities, is a black man between the ages of 35 and 40, the police officer added.
“I saw the helicopters and I heard all kinds of noises,” Elizabeth Buchner, 43, who lives in a house just behind the building where the killings took place, told AFP.
“I was there a little earlier in the day,” added this legal assistant, who said she was relieved by the speed and efficiency of the police intervention.
“There was no hesitation. The (police) response was quick and strong, ”said Ms. Buchner, while in Uvalde the response time of the police, considered too long, is the subject of an investigation and numerous criticisms. .
US President Joe Biden has been updated on the shooting, the White House said.
A member of the Oklahoma parliament, Melissa Provenzano, also welcomed the rapid police response, four minutes having passed between the call for emergency services and the intervention.
“It might have been a lot worse,” she told CNN. But “we deserve much better than this,” she added. “These things can be avoided; and it’s time to wake up and face it”.
In the United States, shootings in public places are a recurring scourge that successive governments have so far been powerless to stem.
