Tulsa diocese asks for prayers after Oklahoma hospital shooting

Police respond to the scene of a mass shooting at St. Francis Hospital on June 1, 2022 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At least four people were killed in a shooting rampage at the Natalie Medical Building on the hospital’s campus, according to published reports. The shooter is also dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police. / J Pat Carter/Getty Images.

Denver Newsroom, Jun 1, 2022 / 18:29 pm (CNA).

The Diocese of Tulsa has requested prayer for all involved in a mass shooting at a medical office building near the city’s Saint Francis Hospital, which has left at least four dead.

“Bishop Konderla, several priests, and the Religious Sisters of Mercy are on site to offer pastoral support to those affected by today’s shooting at Saint Francis Hospital. Please join us in prayer for all involved. Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us,” Adam Minihan, communications director for the diocese, told CNA June 1.

The Tulsa Police Department has confirmed four casualties of the shooting, including the shooter, which took place Wednesday afternoon at the Natalie Building, on the south side of the Saint Francis Hospital campus in Tulsa.

The department said in a Facebook post that “We know there are multiple injuries, and potentially multiple casualties.”

It said its officers were “going through every room in the building checking for additional threats.”

Saint Francis Hospital is the anchor of Saint Francis Health System, whose website says it “is a Catholic, not-for-profit health system wholly governed and operated in Tulsa, Oklahoma whose mission is to extend the presence and healing ministry of Christ to all who seek its services.”

Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City said, “I commend Bishop Konderla, the priests of the Diocese of Tulsa and the Sisters of Mercy for their swift response to attend to the pastoral needs of those involved in this latest act of mass gun violence. I ask Catholics and all people of faith to pray for the men and women killed today and for their families who now must grieve tremendous loss. We need to speak louder in defense of all human life from conception until natural end, and find ways to stop the mass killing of innocent human beings.”