Former President George H.W. Bush’s former cardiologist was shot and killed Friday morning while riding his bicycle to his office at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Troy Finner, Houston Police’s executive assistant chief, announced that Dr. Mark Hausknecht, 65, was riding his bicycle towards South Main Street around 9 a.m. when the suspect on a bicycle rode past him, circled back, and fired two shots in his direction.
Hausknecht flagged down an ambulance for help while the shooter fled on his bicycle.
Medics rushed the cardiologist to a nearby hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. The cardiologist was riding through a 1,345-acre medical complex through Houston’s Texas Medical Center when he was gunned down. Finner said the bullets hit Hausknecht at least once.
Bush, who once consulted Hausknecht in 2000 for an irregular heartbeat, released a statement Friday offering his condolences to Hausknecht’s family, friends, and colleagues:
“Mark was a fantastic cardiologist and a good man. I will always be grateful for his exceptional, compassionate care. His family is in our prayers,” Bush said in the statement.
Hausknecht, whose area of specialty was cardiovascular disease, had been practicing medicine for nearly 40 years.
“His patients appreciated his kind bedside manner and the extra time he took to answer their questions and fully explain their condition and treatment,” Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, told employees in an email on Friday. “Our employees who worked with him said patients were so proud to call him their doctor.”
Police are investigating to determine whether the shooting was premeditated or random.