A doctor killed another physician before turning the weapon on himself at the end of a six-hour-long hostage situation at a children’s medical facility in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday night, CBS Austin reported Wednesday.
Dr. Bharat Kumar Narumanchi, 43, entered the Children’s Medical Group facility reportedly carrying what looked like a pistol, a shotgun and two duffle bags before taking hostages, according to CBS Austin. Narumanchi tied up five people and held them as hostages before law enforcement officials arrived. Only one, Dr. Katherine Lindley Dodson, 43, was unable to escape.
“Because we had a barricaded situation, a hostage inside, and a man with a gun, officers on scene followed policy and called our SWAT unit, who responded immediately,” Austin Police Department Lt. Jeff Greenwalt said, CBS Austin reported. “They were not able to make contact with anyone inside, were not able to establish communication, and were not able to hear anything as far as a disturbance or calls for help or gunshots or anything like that.”
“We, the parents of Dr. Bharat Kumar Narumanchi, wish to extend our most sincere condolences and most fervent prayers to the family, friends and colleagues of Dr. Lindley Dodson.” https://t.co/ZHhnOPDCIn
— FOX 7 Austin (@fox7austin) January 28, 2021
Narumanchi applied for a volunteer position at the facility a week earlier, according to hostages who were able to escape, CBS Austin reported. Law enforcement is investigating whether the interest in the position motivated Narumanchi to target the facility.
Narumanchi was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, and it appeared that he fatally shot Dodson before shooting himself, according to CBS Austin. (RELATED: 2 Killed During Hostage Situation At Texas Children’s Medical Center)
“The suspect, Dr. Narumanchi, had terminal cancer and was given only weeks to live. We feel like his terminal cancer probably played a large part in whatever it was in his life that was happening yesterday,” Greenwalt said, CBS Austin reported.
Hostage negotiations were unable to make contact with Narumanchi so law enforcement enlisted a robot with a camera to search the building, CBS Austin reported. After locating one unresponsive person, a SWAT team entered the building and found Narumanchi and Dodson who appeared to have died of gunshot wounds.
Officials did not find a reason to believe that Narumanchi and Dodson knew each other outside of his previous visit to apply for the volunteer position, CBS Austin reported. Narumanchi’s family said they did not know his motive behind the attack.
“The consequences of this action will live with us forever and we can only hope that faith, spiritual healing and God’s light will guide us through the darkness of this moment,” Narumanchi’s family told CBS Austin.
Narumanchi’s family extended condolences and prayers to Dodson’s family, friends and colleagues, according to CBS Austin.
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