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UPDATE: Tulsa Police confirmed on Thursday that two doctors were killed in the shooting: One of Tulsa’s few Black doctors Dr. Preston J. Phillips and Dr. Stephanie Husen. Amanda Glenn and William Love were killed as well. The shooter also took his own life, police say.
A niece of the Tulsa mass shooter who killed four people before turning the gun on himself at a medical building near Saint Francis hospital on Wednesday evening confirmed his identity as Michael (Michelet) Louis, a 45-year-old Black man from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Muskogee and Tulsa police have since confirmed his identity as well.
In a conversation with the Daily Beast, the niece, who asked not to be identified, said her uncle left a note explaining the motive for the Tulsa shooting in which five people were killed, including the shooter, and several more injured. Yet, she said officials have not released the details of the note to her.
“Tulsa Police called me and verified that it’s my uncle,” she texted Thursday morning. “We are so distraught.”
A Muskogee law enforcement official verified the man’s identity as Michael Louis, according to the Daily Beast. Though the news outlet said Muskogee’s police chief and Tulsa police have not responded to requests for comment on his identity.
According to the Daily Beast:
In addition, public records list Louis as a resident of a home in Muskogee that Tulsa police asked local cops to search for a possible bomb on Wednesday night, saying it was related to the hospital incident.
When will it end! Deeply saddened to hear of tragic loss of Preston Phillips, MD who I knew during his days as a @harvardmed student. Remarkable spine surgeon and man called home to soon. We can’t continue to ignore. My thoughts and prayers to family & friends. #StopGunViolence pic.twitter.com/P93pZWLmxZ
— Edward M Barksdale, Jr MD (@emb7658) June 2, 2022
According to Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin, who spoke with CBS News, the gunman had recently undergone back surgery and called the clinic repeatedly complaining of the pain. Dr. Preston performed the surgery.
“We have also found a letter on the suspect which made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way,” Franklin said. “He blamed Dr. Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”
“It’s just so shocking. Like, if he had killed himself, okay. But those innocent people, that’s what I’m hurting about,” Louis’ niece said about the Tulsa shooting.
“This is really crazy. Like, this is shocking… No one in our family, like nobody in our family, has this type of behavior. No one,” the niece had said.
The shooter entered the Natalie Medical Building at Saint Francis “looking for a Dr. Phillips,” according to City Councilor Jayme Fowler. He then began shooting people on the second floor.
Tulsa shooting at Saint Francis: Oklahoma has no red flag, cool-off period laws as gun purchased on same day of shooting killed five
Notably, it is legal to open carry a rifle in Oklahoma up until the moment someone uses it to kill. Oklahoma has no red flag laws or cool-off periods after purchasing a gun. In fact, Oklahoma has an anti-red flag law which prohibits the passage of any policies that would address the issue.
Preston J. Phillips, MD is one of the few Black doctors in Tulsa, a city that orchestrated a massacre against Black residents of Greenwood and the destruction of Tulsa’s only Black hospital in 1921. The enormity of the loss of his life and the lives of Dr. Stephanie Husen. Amanda Glenn and William Love will continue to be felt in the community for years to come.
MAY THEY ALL REST IN PEACE, PRAY FOR THE FAMILIES PLEASE…SAD, SAD, SAD…