Doctor dead after attack at Red Deer walk-in clinic
A Red Deer doctor died Monday after being attacked inside an examination room at a walk-in clinic in the central Alberta city.
RCMP reported an assault with an unspecified weapon at Village Mall Walk-in Clinic Monday, and later upgraded the investigation to a homicide. A man is in custody and no one else is being sought, said police.
Anina Mullin, a witness who was inside the clinic, said she was standing in line when heard her doctor screaming for help.
“We heard the doctor yell, ‘Help, help! Call 911,’ screaming,” she said. “He sounded terrified.”
She said a receptionist asked if anyone could help the doctor. Two male patients ran to the examination room and looked inside.
“He said, ‘He’s beating him with a hammer in the head,’’ Mullin said.
The two patients turned and ran.
“They just started booting it, and I just started running, because I knew that it wasn’t good.”
Mullin grabbed her teenage daughter’s hand and ran out of the building and into their truck, which was parked just outside the clinic. She was too shaken to drive away.
Outside, the two men held the clinic door shut. One of the men asked a couple outside if they had anything he could use to stop the attacker, and one offered him bear spray. Police then arrived, and gestured to the others to back away as officers dealt with the suspect.
“(An officer) said, ‘Put it down or I will shoot,’ and there came flying a hammer covered in blood at the police officer, and just flew onto the cement pad right in front of the walk-in,” she said.
She said the hammer flew past the officer’s head and nearly hit him.
The officer told the man to “put down the machete,” before he and another nine or 10 officers went inside, said Mullin.
Police then exited the building with a man in custody. Handcuffed and wearing a hoodie, the man was over six feet tall and had a disposable face mask pulled down past his chin, said Mullin. He was covered in blood.
“He kind of towered over the police, and his sleeves were significantly covered in blood, the edges of his sweater,” she said. “And he had a smirk on his face, like he could care less about what had just happened.”
Other emergency responders then went in the building with medical bags and brought the doctor out on a stretcher, said Mullin. He was covered in blood from his head to his waist.
Mullin identified the victim as Dr. Walter Reynolds. She said he was a husband and father of two.
Multiple community members went online to post messages of support and condolences to the Reynolds family Monday evening.
A patient of his since 2006, Mullin said the physician delivered both her daughters. She described him as “the sweetest doctor.”
“He would give you the shirt off his back if you need it,” she said. “He was loyal, he remembered you, it wasn’t just another person coming into the office ... he cared.”
Mullins said he had a wife and two young girls at home.
Mayor Tara Veer called the attack a “horrific tragedy” and a “senseless loss of life” in a statement posted online.
“I wish to offer my deepest condolences to the victim’s family, friends, loved ones and to the medical community in our city,” read Veer’s statement. “I also want to offer heartfelt thanks to not only the first responders, but also to the citizens who supported at the scene.”
She encouraged anyone who witnessed the attack to call Red Deer Victim Services if they may be suffering from trauma.
Alberta Medical Association (AMA) president Dr. Christine Molnar said her organization would be reaching out to local physicians to learn how they can best help.
“I have just learned of this horrific attack on a Red Deer physician. I can’t express my sense of disbelief and great sorrow for his family, his colleagues and the Red Deer community,” said Molnar in an email statement.