Patients of esteemed Tennessee hand surgeon, Dr. Benjamin Mauck, were shattered with grief on Thursday as shocking details emerged surrounding his fatal shooting in an exam room the previous afternoon.
The 43-year-old father of two was gunned down in front of a stunned nurse, according to an affidavit issued by the Collierville Courthouse, where police arrested and charged 29-year-old Larry Pickens with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the heinous attack.
The nurse, whose name is being withheld, told officers Pickens had pulled a pistol from his waistband and fired three rounds at Dr. Mauck, according to the affidavit.
Officers discovered Mauck “on the floor of the exam room with a gunshot wound to his neck, chest and upper abdomen,” while nearby paperwork bore Pickens’ name, the court document reveals.
Other patients and staff onsite at Campbell Clinic Orthopaedics, located about 30 miles from Memphis, were unharmed as Pickens fled the scene. He was apprehended a short while later, wearing a backpack with a black Smith & Wesson SD40 pistol and two empty magazines, according to law enforcement.
The motive remains unclear, but the community has offered their condolences to the Mauck family in a statement, praising the doctor who specialized in treating children with congenital hand deformities as a “family man, first and foremost.”
Dr. Mauck had earned rave reviews from patients in online reviews and was lauded by Memphis Magazine as one of 2023’s Top Doctors in Memphis.
His expertise included surgically creating a thumb using an index finger for babies born without one, a skill known to only 10 surgeons in the U.S.
Mauck, a graduate of the University of Tennessee-Memphis Medical School, in addition to his work at Campbell Clinic, headed up the congenital hand clinic at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.
“I’m a very detail-oriented person, and I really enjoy the complexity of hands,” he had previously told the magazine. “In orthopedic surgery, we often say that millimeters matter, and with hands, one millimeter can make a huge difference.”
In a sign of respect for the beloved hand surgeon, all nine of the clinic’s locations were closed Wednesday, before reopening the following day.
“We are shocked and heartbroken,” a clinic spokesperson said in a statement. “We ask that you please lift his family in prayer.”
Pickens is being held in jail on a $1.2 million bond. Dr. Mauck’s legacy and the love of his family will surely live on.
