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An orthopedic surgeon was shot and killed by one of his patients on Tuesday while working at his Tennessee hospital, according to police.

Benjamin Mauck, 43, was in an exam room when a male patient at the Campbell Clinic opened fire about 2:30 p.m., Collierville Police Chief Dale Lane said at a news conference. The suspected gunman had been at the clinic for several hours before what “appears to be a one-on-one interaction that occurred in an exam room,” Lane said.

“It’s bad, it’s horrific, it’s terrible,” Lane said.

The suspect was taken into custody within five minutes of what police say was a targeted, isolated shooting, rather than an active-shooter situation.

The motive for the shooting remained unclear Wednesday. A witness told Memphis CBS affiliate WREG that the suspect had been threatening Mauck for at least a week, but Lane said authorities were not aware of any alleged threats made against the surgeon before the shooting.

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Authorities identified the suspect on Wednesday as Larry Pickens, 29, of Memphis. Pickens has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated assault for the shooting. Collierville police say Pickens does not appear to have any previous arrests.

If convicted, Pickens could face the death penalty or life in prison. His bail has been set to $1.2 million, and he is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, police said.

A spokesman with the Collierville Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The investigation is ongoing, and Lane said authorities will be working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to trace the history of the Pickens’s gun.

Mauck’s family members did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Irina B. Ollar, a spokesperson for the Campbell Clinic, confirmed in a statement to The Washington Post that Mauck — who specialized in elbow, hand and wrist surgeries, and had been at the hospital since 2012 — was killed in the attack. All Campbell Clinic locations were closed Wednesday until further notice, Ollar said.

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“We are shocked and heartbroken to confirm the incident resulted in the tragic loss of one of our highly respected and beloved physicians, Dr. Ben Mauck,” Ollar said. “We ask that you please lift his family in prayer.”

The shooting is among several across the country that have unfolded in hospitals or medical facilities in recent months.

In June 2022, a man who blamed his doctor for pain after back surgery bought guns shortly before storming into a Tulsa medical building, killing four people and then himself. The gunman killed his doctor, Preston Phillips, as well as another doctor, Stephanie Husen, receptionist and nurse Amanda Glenn and William Love, who was accompanying his wife to an appointment.

A man opened fire on an Atlanta medical facility in May after he grew angry during a medical appointment he made for himself. Deion Patterson, 24, was arrested after an hours-long manhunt after he allegedly killed Amy St. Pierre, an employee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and injured four other women. He’s been charged with murder and four counts of aggravated assault.

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Tennessee state Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D), the chamber’s minority leader, said in a statement that Mauck’s death is another example of why the state needs stricter laws surrounding gun possession. The state has not required people to have a permit to carry a handgun, whether openly or concealed for residents and nonresidents, since July 2021.

“Tragedies like this underscore the urgent need for common sense — like reinstating background checks and gun licenses and establishing new reforms like an order of protection so police can remove firearms from a person who is threatening others,” Akbari said. “Whether you’re at school, a grocery store or on the job, you deserve to live and work free from gun violence.”

The sentiment was echoed by Malini Gupta, a Memphis endocrinologist and friend of Mauck.

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“Dr. Ben Mauck was not just a ‘healthcare worker,’” Gupta tweeted. “He was my friend, one of the most skilled hand surgeons we had here in #Memphis.”

In addition to his work at the Campbell Clinic, Mauck was also the head of the Congenital Hand Clinic at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis. He graduated from Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn., and the University of Tennessee at Memphis, and finished his residency at the University of Tennessee’s Campbell Clinic, according to his online biography.

When Mauck was honored last month as part of Memphis Magazine’s 2023 Top Doctors List, he told the outlet that he wanted to become a physician after he saw how a doctor helped his sister recover from a sports injury when they were growing up in Savannah, Tenn.

“She had surgery for a torn ACL, and they changed her life for the better,” Mauck said. “I thought to myself, ‘What better way to help people than to become a physician?’”

He told the magazine that he chose to be a hand surgeon so that he “could help patients in a very significant way.”

“The hand is how we interact with the outside world,” Mauck said, “and when your hand is involved, it affects almost every single thing we do.”

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