MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Five dead in one more high-profile shooting in US

The perpetrator was an African-American aged between 35 and 40, who eventually shot himself

At least 5 people died in yet another mass shooting in the United States Wednesday, after a gunman killed four people at a medical center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before taking his own life.

 The assailant opened fire at the St. Francis Health System campus using at least two firearms -a pistol and a rifle- on the second floor of the Natalie Medical Building, which deals primarily with sports medicine.

“We have four civilians who are dead and we have one shooter who is dead,” a Tulsa police spokesman told reporters.

According to witnesses, the killer was an African-American between 35 and 40 years old, targetting a specific physician, with whom he apparently had unsettled scores. It remains unclear whether he was successful in that quest.

“No officers were injured,” the police also reported. The authorities also spoke of a “catastrophic” scene which was limited to a “portion of the second floor.”

The event occurred on the 101st anniversary of the Tulsa massacre. It would be linked to a bomb alert in the previous hours.

The new attack came just days after two high-profile shootings, which have sparked a nationwide debate over gun ownership following the Uvalde and Buffalo massacres.

Last week, an 18-year-old gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, while earlier in May, a shooter had killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.

The administration of President Joseph Biden is said to be looking for alternatives to replace Constitutional provisions granting citizens the right to bear arms, while House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi assured there will be forceful action.

Wednesday's attack “wasn’t random,” said Tulsa Police Capt. Richard Meulenberg, according to The New York Times. ”This wasn’t an individual who just decided he wanted to go find a hospital full of random people. He deliberately made a choice to come here and his actions were deliberate.”

Wednesday's attack was the second mass shooting this week in Oklahoma alone: a woman was killed Sunday and seven others were injured during an annual Memorial Day festival in Taft, a small town near Muskogee, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation reported. The shooting suspect later turned himself in.

Since January, there have been 12 shootings nationwide where four or more people have been killed, leaving a total of 76 dead. The death toll does not include the perpetrators of the shootings.