Indian-origin paediatrician kills doctor, himself
HOUSTON: A 43-year-old Indianorigin paediatrician recently diagnosed with terminal cancer stormed into a medical facility, took five people hostage and shot dead another paediatrician before turning the gun on himself in the Texas capital of Austin on Tuesday, police said.
The armed man was identified as Dr Bharat Narumanchi, police said, adding that he was recently turned down for the position of a volunteer at the medical facility.
Police received a call at 4:30pm on Tuesday, saying a man walked into the offices of Children’s Medical Group (CMG) with a gun, and held hostages inside the building, CNN reported, citing the Austin Police Department. “He displayed a gun and told the hostages to tie themselves up,” Austin Police lieutenant Jeff Greenwalt said, according to US media reports.
Four of the five hostages — all employees at the facility — managed to escape, except Katherine Dodson, also a 43-year-old paediatrician. The hostages who escaped told officers at the scene that the man was armed with a pistol in what appeared to be a shotgun, police said. He was also carrying two duffel bags.
Dr Narumanchi had visited the CMG office a week before and applied for a position. Other than his recent visit to the office, there did not appear to be any relationship or other contact between Dr Narumanchi and Dr Dodson, police said.
He was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer and had been told that had just weeks to live, 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,” he said, according to US media reports.
But for now, Greenwalt said, investigators are on the lookout for more information.
Police said hostage negotiators, who were called in after the
complaint was received, tried to speak with Narumanchi, calling and sending text messages for the next few hours, but were unsuccessful. “You have helped so many people,” a negotiator said to Narumanchi through a megaphone, according to a video by a local journalist cited by The Sacramento Bee. “I know you’ve been dealt a very terrible card,” the negotiator said, to no response. After a few hours, SWAT officers sent a robot fitted with a camera inside the doctor’s office to gauge the situation. They then entered the building and found the bodies of Dodson and Narumanchi riddled with apparent gunshot wounds.
“It appeared that Dr Narumanchi shot himself after shooting Dr Dodson,” according to the police department’s news release. “There were five people inside the building when the suspect arrived,” Greenwalt said, adding that there were no children or patients at the facility when the incident occurred. .
Narumanchi’s parents on Wednesday released a statement, expressing condolences to the family and friends of Dr Dodson. “We don’t understand our son’s motives or actions...,” the family wrote to CBS Austin.
According to a report in the New York Post, Narumanchi attended the St George’s University School of Medicine in Grenada until 2008, and completed his residency at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii in 2013. He was presently running a practice in California. Details about his stay in Texas are unclear. “The consequences of this action will live with us forever and we can only hope that... God’s light will guide us through the darkness,” his family said.