A man charged with killing a hand surgeon at a Tennessee clinic was being held on $1.2 million bail Thursday as those who knew the doctor remembered him as a skilled and beloved medical professional who cared for his patients.
Larry Pickens, 29, told a judge on Thursday that he could not afford the bail and wasn’t sure if he could afford a lawyer, the Commercial Appeal reported. He did not enter a plea. Judge Lee Ann Dobson told Pickens a public defender would not cost him anything and set his next court date for July 20.
Pickens was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Dr. Benjamin Mauck at Campbell Clinic Orthopedics in the Memphis suburb of Collierville on Tuesday. Police said Mauck was shot in an exam room and that Pickens had been at the clinic for several hours before the shooting.
Authorities haven’t disclosed a possible motive for the shooting.
Meanwhile, police in the Memphis suburb of Germantown said they received two calls on July 5 about Pickens showing unusual behavior at the Campbell Clinic there. Pickens did not make any threats of violence, police said.
He was asked to leave the property and was warned about trespassing, police reports said.
“The staff was stating that Mr. Pickens was asking unusual questions about the doctors like where the doctors parked their cars,” a police report said.
Germantown and Collierville are east of Memphis.
The Collierville clinic remained closed Thursday, but other locations that were closed after the shooting have reopened, Campbell Clinic said in a statement.