COLLIERVILLE, TENNESSEE: The patient who allegedly killed Dr Benjamin Mauck, a top hand surgeon, in a cold-blooded shooting at a suburban Memphis clinic on Tuesday has been identified as Larry Pickens, 29. Pickens is facing charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault for the attack that shocked the medical community and left Mauck's family and friends devastated.

According to Collierville police chief Dale Lane, Pickens was a patient of Mauck who had received treatment at the Campbell Clinic Orthopedics earlier that day. He then waited inside the clinic for hours before he barged into Mauck's exam room at around 2.30 pm and shot him dead with a handgun. He then fled the scene, but was quickly arrested by the police outside the building, Daily Beast reported.

Pickens had no criminal record prior to the incident

The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Pickens, as per reports, had no criminal record prior to the incident and no apparent history of conflict with Mauck. However, Tennessee Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari said in a statement that a witness claimed that Pickens had been threatening a clinic employee for over a week, as per New York Post. Lane said his department was not aware of any such threats.

'What better way to help people than to become a physician?'

Mauck, 43, was a highly respected and beloved surgeon who specialized in elbow, hand, and wrist surgery. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Memphis in 2006 and joined the Campbell Clinic staff in 2012. He also worked as a surgeon at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and was named on Memphis Magazine's 2023 Top Doctor List last week. In an interview with the magazine last month, Mauck said he became a doctor after seeing his sister recover from a sports injury with surgery. "I thought to myself, 'What better way to help people than to become a physician?'" he said.

Pickens is being held on a $1.2 million bond

He also expressed his fascination with hands. "The hand is how we interact with the outside world, and when your hand is involved, it affects almost every single thing you do," he said. Mauck's colleagues at the Campbell Clinic mourned his loss in a statement on Tuesday calling him "a gifted surgeon" and "a wonderful person." He is survived by his wife Rhiannon and two children Pickens is being held on a $1.2 million bond and will appear in court on Thursday. He was living in Memphis, about 10 miles from the clinic, according to his last known address, the Daily Mail reported. He has not entered a plea or retained an attorney yet.