Former WNBA doctor targeted, killed in Tulsa mass shooting

As Meredith Cash explained for Insider, a mass shooting at the Saint Francis Hospital campus in Tulsa, Oklahoma on Wednesday afternoon left the gunman and four other people dead. 

One of the victims has a direct tie to a North American professional sports league. 

Per Cash and TMZ Sports, Dr. Preston Phillips was directly targeted by the shooter during Wednesday's gun-related tragedy. Phillips previously served as the team doctor for the WNBA's Tulsa Shock beginning back in 2010, but the Shock ultimately relocated and became the Dallas Wings after the 2015 season. 

According to the reports, the shooter, 45, was a patient of Phillips and blamed the doctor for pain he experienced following back surgery in May. Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said the shooter left a note at the scene that "made it clear that he came in with the intent to kill Dr. Phillips and anyone who got in his way." 

Former Shock head coach Gary Kloppenburg, currently with the Indiana Fever of the WNBA, took to Twitter to respond to the news: