Left: Michael Louis (left), via Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office. Right: police respond to the scene of a shooting at the Natalie Building at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Wednesday, June 1, 2022. (Photo by J Pat Carter)
Police in Oklahoma say that the gunman who attacked a medical center in Tulsa was determined to kill the surgeon who had operated on him weeks earlier, as well as “anyone who got in his way.”
Michael Louis, 45, shot and killed four people at the St. Francis Hospital on Wednesday.
One of those victims, Dr. Preston Phillips, was an orthopedic surgeon. He had operated on Louis just weeks earlier.
“On May 19, Michael Louis went into the hospital for a back surgery,” Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said at a press conference Thursday. “The performing physician was Dr. Preston Phillips.”
After being released from the hospital on May 24, Louis “called several times over several days, complaining of pain and wanted additional treatment,” Franklin said.
On Tuesday, Louis apparently did receive treatment from Phillips, but by the next day—Wednesday, the day of the shooting—Louis again called Phillips’ office, Franklin said, “complaining of back pain and wanting additional assistance.”
Meanwhile, as Louis was seeking additional treatment from Phillips, he was also apparently acquiring the weapons he would allegedly use in the attack: Franklin said that on May 29, Louis had purchased a pistol from a local pawn shop, and on June 1, he bought an “AR-15-style” rifle from a local gun dealer.
Louis’ other three victims—Dr. Stephanie Husen, also an orthopedic specialist;…
