Physician Preston Phillips was killed Wednesday along with Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn and visitor William Love.
Courtesy of CNN en Español | The man had two weeks of having undergone back surgery
A gunman who killed his surgeon and three others at a Tulsa office blamed the doctor for his lingering pain following back surgery and purchased an AR-style rifle hours before the shooting, police said Thursday.
The man repeatedly called the clinic complaining of pain and specifically attacked the doctor who performed the operation, then killed himself as police arrived, Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said.
The doctor, Preston Phillips, was killed Wednesday along with Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn and visitor William Love, police added.
The attack occurred on the grounds of Tulsa’s Saint Francis Health System. The police chief said the attacker was Michael Louis, 45, of Muskogee, Oklahoma.
It was the latest in a series of mass shootings in the United States, including the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and an attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The recent Memorial Day weekend saw several mass shootings across the country, including one at a garden festival in Taft, Oklahoma, 45 miles from Tulsa.
Louis was carrying a letter saying he was going to attack Phillips, Franklin added.
In the letter “it was clearly specified that he arrived with the intention of killing Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in the way,” said the police chief. “He blamed Dr. Phillips for the lingering pain following his operation.”
Franklin said Phillips performed the surgery on May 19 and Louis was released from the hospital on May 24.
He said Louis called the doctor’s office “several times over several days” to report that he was still in pain, and saw Phillips on Tuesday for “additional treatment.” Louis called the office once more on Wednesday, “complaining of back pain and requesting additional support.”
An address phone number for a Michael Louis in Muskogee was down Thursday.
Phillips, 59, was an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spinal surgery and joint reconstruction, according to a profile on the clinic’s website.
He was the head physician for the WNBA basketball team in Tulsa until the franchise left the state, according to the Tulsa World newspaper.
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