THE man who shot dead four people at a hospital in Oklahoma, the United States, killed the surgeon whom he blamed for pain after back surgery, said police yesterday.

Identified as Michael Louis, the suspect with a handgun and rifle stormed into the Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa on Wednesday, in the latest mass shooting in the US in recent weeks.

Louis was recently operated on by surgeon Dr Preston Phillips and called the clinic to complain of continuing back pain, said Tulsa police chief Wendell Franklin during a press conference.

Police 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”, he added.

“He blamed Dr Phillips for the ongoing pain following the surgery.”

The other victims included another physician, a receptionist and a patient.

“They stood in the way and Louis gunned them down,” said Franklin, adding that the suspect then shot himself.

He said Louis purchased a semi-automatic gun at a local gun shop shortly before the shooting.

The killings come as families bury their dead in Texas, after a school shooting left 19 children and two teachers dead last week.

The tragedies have prompted calls for tighter gun control laws, but US lawmakers have failed to pass significant new legislations despite years of worsening gun violence.

According to the Gun Violence Archive, there have been 233 mass shootings in the US this year.

It defines mass shootings as when four or more people are injured or killed in a single event, not including the shooter. – AFP, June 3, 2022.