Dr. Katherine Lindley Dodson was fatally shot and killed on Tuesday night by a terminally ill doctor who had been turned down for a volunteer position at the practice a week ago.
The assailant identified as Bharat Narumanchi on Tuesday stormed the Children’s Medical Group in Austin, Texas and took the doctor along with four other employees.
Austin police on Wednesday identified Dodson as one of two people found dead at her office after being taken hostage by another pediatrician, Dr. Bharat Narumanchi.
On Wednesday, husband Drew Dodson said he and his family “have gotten a lot of outreach and support right now.”
As news of her death swept through Austin late Tuesday and early Wednesday, her friends and patients were anguished by her loss, many speaking about her through sobs and paying tribute to their special parent-pediatrician relationship.
âYou saw her at your worst when your kid was sick, and she just always had a smile on her face,â said Karen Vladeck, whose two children, ages 2 and 5, were patients of Dodson. âShe made you feel like you were the only parent there, even though there was a line of kids waiting.â
Toby Atkins, whose daughter is 4 months old, met Dodson in August through a telehealth visit while he and his wife were considering becoming a patient at her practice. He said he and his wife had instant trust in Dodson and loved how she laughed at herself as she struggled to adjust her computer camera.
