Two doctors were found dead in a medical office in Austin, Texas, late Tuesday after a hostage standoff that lasted more than five hours and ended with what the authorities said they were investigating as a murder-suicide.
The Austin Police Department said it appeared that Dr. Bharat Narumanchi, 43, a pediatrician, shot himself after he fatally shot Dr. Lindley Dodson, 43, whom he had held hostage along with four other people.
It was not immediately clear what led to the shooting, said Lt. Jeff Greenwalt of the Austin Police Department. Lieutenant Greenwalt said Dr. Narumanchi had visited the office a week or two earlier to apply for a volunteer position there and was turned down.
“The case as far as who did this is closed,” Lieutenant Greenwalt said at a news conference on Wednesday morning. “We really, really want to answer the question of why and provide as many facts and circumstances to the family and friends as we can.”
The police were notified at about 4:30 p.m. local time on Tuesday that a man with a gun had entered a pediatric doctor’s office at an address on West 35th Street in central Austin that houses the Children’s Medical Group practice. Five people were inside the office at the time, all of whom were employees, the police said. No patients or children were present, they said.
“He displayed a gun and told the hostages to tie themselves up,” Lieutenant Greenwalt said.
By the time officers arrived, four of the hostages had escaped or had been released, he said. None were injured. Dr. Dodson, however, was still inside, Lieutenant Greenwalt said.
The hostages told the officers that Dr. Narumanchi “was armed with a pistol and what appeared to be a shotgun and had two duffel bags,” the police said in a statement.
SWAT team members were seen and heard on a nearby street negotiating with the gunman on Tuesday evening, according to reporters at the scene.
After several unsuccessful attempts to make contact with Dr. Narumanchi, the police said that officers decided to enter the building. SWAT officers found the doctors dead inside the office.
Dr. Narumanchi had terminal cancer and had just weeks to live, Lieutenant Greenwalt said. It was not clear what type of cancer Dr. Narumanchi had.
“We feel like his terminal cancer probably played a large part in whatever it was that occurred in his life and what has happening yesterday,” Lieutenant Greenwalt said.
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, the police said.
Lieutenant Greenwalt said investigators were asking people who knew Mr. Narumanchi to come forward if they had information about why he chose to target the practice.
Dr. Dodson had been a partner there since 2017, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her patients and friends were in shock on Wednesday.
“You saw her at your worst when your kid was sick, and she just always had a smile on her face,” Karen Vladeck, a lawyer, told the Austin American-Statesman. “She made you feel like you were the only parent there, even though there was a line of kids waiting.”
Toby Atkins, the father of a 4-month-old daughter, told the American-Statesman that Dr. Dodson “was an absolute blessing.”
“We went in with a list of concerns as first-time parents — ‘not sure how all this works!’ — and she was almost humorous as she attacked our list,” he said. “She said, ‘Oh you are good! Oh, completely normal!’”
Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, said on Twitter that Dr. Dodson treated two of his grandchildren. He called her “one of our most skilled, compassionate pediatricians.”
“At 43, her life has been cut terribly short,” he wrote. “She leaves behind her husband Drew and three children. What a tragic, tragic loss.”
The police said that the Travis County Medical Examiner would conduct autopsies to determine the official cause and manner of death.
The homicide was Austin’s fourth of the year, Lieutenant Greenwalt said. “Austin is a pretty safe place,” he said, describing the shooting as “a pretty unusual thing” for the Texas capital.
January 28, 2021 at 04:21AM
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Austin, Texas, Hostage Situation Ends With 2 Dead - The New York Times
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