The doctor with terminal cancer who killed a pediatrician before taking his life in an Austin doctor’s office was previously accused of abusing his ex-wife – whom he ridiculed as an “unhappy” person, court records show.
Dr. Bharat Narumanchi, who the police say took hostages before killing 43-year-old Dr. Katherine Lindley Dodson in a murder-suicide at Children’s Medical Group on Tuesday, was charged with domestic violence in Hawaii in 2012, but the case was later closed, reported the Austin American-Statesman.
Narumanchi, 43, characterized his ex-wife in a lawsuit as an “unhappy person since childhood”, claiming that she only married him to obtain American citizenship that “eluded her when she lived in the United States as a student”, reported the newspaper.
The court records cited by KXAN show that Narumanchi filed for divorce in 2012. The couple had joint custody of their daughter and the records link Narumanchi to a home in northern Austin, where currently residents with the same surname live, but he is not listed as one of its owners, reported the station.
Austin police lieutenant Jeff Greenwalt said investigators believe the doctor’s terminal cancer diagnosis “probably played an important role” in the fact that he took four hostages who escaped or were released before the officers arrived.
Hostages told Statesman-America that Narumanchi broke into the office at about 4:30 pm Tuesday, carrying two backpacks, a pistol and a shotgun.
Narumanchi’s relatives, meanwhile, told investigators that they began asking about palliative care for the doctor after his diagnosis of having only “weeks” to live. The police did not say what type of cancer he had, KXAN reported.
Public records cited by the Statesman-American show that Narumanchi lived in several states. Most recently, he served at Providence Health Services in Southern California and was also licensed as a doctor in Oklahoma, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Florida, employment records show.
After graduating from medical school in 2008 at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Granada, Narumanchi worked for 18 months at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Manhattan before being fired in December 2009, KXAN reported.
Narumanchi later filed a complaint for his resignation and then rejected a proposed settlement, federal court records show.
The doctor later filed a claim for $ 24,700 in bankruptcy court when the now defunct hospital filed Chapter 11 in 2010, but was later revised to just $ 1,524, the records show.
In 2012, Narumanchi received a “doctor and surgeon A” license to practice medicine in California, where it was valid until August 2022, KXAN reported.
It is still unclear why Narumanchi chose the hospital, although he was refused a volunteer position at the facility weeks ago, investigators said. An official told the Statesman-American that Narumanchi did not meet Dodson during that visit.
“We don’t know if that is the reason he decided to come back or if there is any other involvement that he may have had,” said Greenwalt on Wednesday.
Narumanchi’s parents said in a statement on Wednesday that they are cooperating with investigators, but “do not understand” what motivated their son to kill.
“The consequences of this action will live with us forever and we can only hope that faith, spiritual healing and the light of God will guide us through the darkness of this moment,” says the statement.
