Man charged in exam-room slaying of doc
The man accused of shooting Tennessee hand surgeon Dr. Benjamin Mauck inside a health clinic exam room earlier this week made his initial court appearance Thursday morning on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault.
Larry Pickens (photo) told Judge Lee Ann Dobson he could not afford to pay his $1.2 million bail, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. He also revealed he has yet to hire a lawyer and questioned how much one would cost, prompting Dobson to point out a public defender is available to him for free.
He’s due back in Collierville Municipal Court on July 20.
Pickens is accused of killing 43-year-old
Mauck on
Tuesday at Campbell Clinic Orthopedics in Collierville, a town roughly
30 miles east of Memphis. Police said the suspect waited inside the packed waiting room for hours before finally approaching the unsuspecting surgeon around 2 p.m. and then shooting him dead.
Mauck — an expert in elbow, wrist and hand surgery, including for pediatric cases and for patients with complex injuries and conditions — joined Campbell Clinic in 2012, according to the Commercial Appeal. He also practiced at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, where he ran the Pediatric Hand Clinic, a joint effort run by both facilities.
In an email sent to hospital staff following the shooting, Dr. James Eubanks III, Le Bonheur interim president and surgeon-in-chief, remembered Mauck as “a beloved colleague,” who was “a respected member of our Le Bonheur family” and “a dedicated physician to so many patients.”
“We already miss him,” Eubanks wrote. “His death is an unthinkable tragedy, and I am at loss at what to say. I am so sorry to those who loved and knew him, for those who worked alongside him every day.”
Pickens attempted to flee the scene of shooting, but he was arrested by responding officers a short time later, not far from the clinic on Poplar Ave. He was still armed with a handgun when he was detained, police said.
Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane called the violence a “oneon-one interaction,” adding that Pickens spared the lives of many patients and medical staff in the building Tuesday afternoon. A motive for the attack remains under investigation.