Witnesses have recalled what happened when four people were killed at a hospital in southeast Oklahoma by a gunman who allegedly told one man he “wasn’t there for him”.
Police said four people were killed in the attack on the Natalie Medical Building in Tulsa on Wednesday afternoon, with the gunman thought to have died of a self-inflicted wound.
Gannon Gill, a physician assistant at the Saint Francis Hospital campus where the shooting occurred, told The New York Times he recognised the distinct sound of gunfire and raced from the building with his patient.
The pair made their way out of the “labyrinth” of rooms and corridors inside the building until they exited via an office door and sought refuge in a garage in the parking area.
One man in the garage told Mr Gill that “the shooter told him and his wife to leave and he was not there for him”, allowing them to exit without coming into harm.
The physician assistant had been able to call his wife to tell her, “Don’t freak out, I’m alive,” and asked for her to bring his car keys – which he had left on his desk.
“There was an initial ‘What was that?’” said Mr Gill, who recalled telling his patient: “Let’s go. I don’t think this is good.”
He later learned that some of his colleagues had hid in bathrooms or cupboards inside the multi-story medical building, which holds an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
Officers discovered the shooter and several victims in the orthopaedic clinic on the second floor, police said.
It remains unknown why the gunman carried out the attack, although police told reporters that his motives were “very specific” and not random.
“He very purposefully went to this location, went to a very specific floor, and shot with very specific purpose,” Tulsa Police Department Captain Richard Meulenberg told CNN. “This was not a random shooting by this individual.”
Officers responded to the scene within four minutes – in comparison to the attack on the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on 24 May.
Police have been criticised for taking almost an hour to storm the classroom where 21 people were killed.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
