Dispatchers received a call on Tuesday that a man with a gun walked into Children’s Medical Group offices and was holding hostages in the building.
Several hostages were initially held, police said, but some escaped and others were allowed to leave, except for Dr. Katherine Dodson, a pediatrician at CMG. Hostages told officers the man was armed with a pistol and what appeared to be a shotgun, police said. He also had two travel bags.
The gunman was identified as Dr. Bharat Narumanchi, 43, a pediatrician who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, police said. He had visited the CMG office a week prior to the shooting and applied for a volunteer position. Apart from his recent visit, the police could not find a link between Dodson and Narumanchi.
Hostage negotiators then arrived on the scene and attempted to contact Narumanchi, but failed. After repeated attempts, SWAT officers entered the building where they found Dodson and Narumanchi dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
“It appeared that Dr. Narumanchi had shot himself after shooting Dr. Dodson,” said the police press release. The incident is still under investigation.
The Travis County Medical Examiner will perform an autopsy to determine the official cause and manner of death.
Dodson, 43, joined CMG in 2017 as a pediatrician, according to the medical center’s website. She was from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and was married with three children, the website said.