Oklahoma hospital shooting: 4 killed, many injured as gunman opens fire

Four people were killed in a shooting at a Tulsa medical building on Wednesday, in the US state of Oklahoma, according to a police captain who described a “catastrophic scene”.

Eric Dalgleish, deputy chief of the Tulsa police department, confirmed that four people were dead, not including the shooter, who apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

It was unclear what prompted the deadly assault. However, the unidentified gunman fired both a handgun and a rifle during the attack, Dalgleish said.

Police arrived at the scene on Wednesday afternoon at St Francis Hospital in three minutes - which they say ensured the death toll wasn't higher.

Investigators are interviewing witnesses that were in the building, Dalgleish said. One witness was found locked in a closet, he said.

Police said they are "getting close" to identifying the suspect, who Dalgleish said had one rifle and one handgun with him. "It appears both weapons, at one point or another, were fired," the deputy chief said.

US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the Tulsa shooting, White House officials also said in a statement.

Last Saturday, President Biden urged Americans to make their voices heard to prevent further gun violence, following the killing of 19 children and two teachers at a school in Texas.

The shooting Wednesday also comes just more than two weeks after shooting at a Buffalo supermarket by a white man who is accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack.

The recent Memorial Day weekend saw multiple mass shootings nationwide, including at an outdoor festival in Taft, Oklahoma, 45 miles from Tulsa, even as single-death incidents accounted for most gun fatalities.

Since January, there have been 12 shootings where four or more people have been killed, according to The Associated Press/USA TODAY/Northeastern University mass killing database.

Those shootings have left 76 dead, including 31 adults and children in Buffalo and Texas, the database says. The death toll does not include the suspects in the shootings.