Patient kills surgeon Benjamin Mauck in shooting at suburban Memphis clinic, police say
A patient at a suburban Memphis clinic shot and killed an orthopedic surgeon in an exam room Tuesday afternoon, police said.
Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane said the suspect was taken into custody within five minutes of the shooting at Campbell Clinic in Collierville, Tennessee, a town of just over 50,000 residents. The suspected shooter was identified by police as Larry Pickens, 29, of Memphis. Pickens has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault, and bond was set at $1.2 million, police said.
The surgeon killed was Dr. Benjamin Mauck, the clinic said.
"It's horrific, it's terrible," Lane said at a news conference Tuesday. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the family."
What happened at the clinic?
Officers responded to the scene just after 2 p.m. The suspect had spent several hours at the clinic that day as a patient before the shooting, which appeared to be targeted, according to Lane. He used a handgun, which he had in his possession when he was arrested.
"This appears to be a one-on-one interaction; it occurred in an exam room," Lane said.
After the shooting, the gunman ran out of the clinic and officers found him "very near to the entrance," he said.
"We're talking about a guy that ran from a shooting scene and he's in custody within five minutes, without additional loss of life," Lane said.
Who was Dr. Benjamin Mauck?
According to Mauck's bio on the Campbell Clinic website, he specialized in elbow, hand and wrist surgeries. He joined the staff in August 2012.
"We are shocked and heartbroken to confirm the incident resulted in the tragic loss of one of our highly respected and beloved physicians, Dr. Ben Mauck. We ask that you please lift his family in prayer," the clinic said in a statement.
He was a graduate of Lambuth University and the University of Tennessee-Memphis and did his residency at UT-Campbell Clinic, according to his bio.
Was anyone else injured?
Collierville police said no one else was injured during the incident.
Lane said many patients and employees were in the clinic when the shooting happened. He praised Campbell Clinic workers for their efforts to protect others following the shooting. "They were practicing what they had been trained to do" in the case of an active shooter, he said.
Campbell Clinic said it would be closed Wednesday.
Violence against health workers persists across US
Violence against health care workers has been a concerning trend across the country in recent years. In 2020, the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that health care practitioners and health-related technical occupations made up about 23% of cases of intentional, nonfatal injuries by another person that required time away from work.
Research has shown shootings of health care workers are usually targeted, unlike other types of mass shootings. Last year, a gunman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, killed four people when police said he targeted an orthopedic surgeon who operated on his back, blaming the doctor for his pain.
'FRIGHTENING TREND': Deadly assaults on US medical workers on the rise
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Dr. Benjamin Mauck shooting: Surgeon killed by patient in Tennessee
