PIO paediatrician shoots doc, self in Texas
A 43-year-old Indian-American paediatrician diagnosed with terminal cancer shot dead a lady doctor and then killed himself after taking hostages at a medical office in Austin, according to police in the capital city of the US state of Texas.
The armed man was identified as Dr Bharat Narumanchi, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, police said, adding that he had recently been turned down for a volunteer position at the medical facility. Police received a call on Tuesday saying a man walked into the offices of Children’s Medical Group (CMG) with a gun and was holding hostages inside the building.
Initially several hostages were being held, police said, but several escaped and others were allowed to leave, except a paediatrician named Katherine Dodson. Dr Narumanchi had visited the CMG office a week prior to the shooting and applied for a volunteer position. The suspect had terminal cancer and had only been given weeks to live, Austin police Lt. Jeff Greenwalt told reporters on Wednesday. “So we feel like his terminal cancer probably played a large part in whatever it was that occurred in his life and what was happening yesterday,” he said. Earlier, police said hostage negotiators tried to make contact with Narumanchi, but were unsuccessful.
After repeated attempts, SWAT officers entered the building where they found Dodson and Narumanchi dead from apparent gunshot wounds. “It appeared that Dr Narumanchi shot himself after shooting Dr Dodson,” a statement said.