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Cyclist shot dead by cyclist while riding to work in Houston

Heart specialist, Dr Mark Hausknecht, who treated ex-President Bush was shot by suspect on a bike while riding through medical complex say police

A doctor who once treated former US President George HW Bush for a heart problem has been shot dead while cycling to work in Houston, Texas.

The Guardian reports that the man who shot and killed Dr Mark Hausknecht at the Texas Medical Center at 9am on Friday morning was also on a bicycle.

Police are now trying to establish whether Dr Hausknecht was specifically targeted, or whether the shooting was a random act.

Troy Finnner from Houston Police said: “The suspect was on a bicycle as well. Rode past the doctor, turned and fired two shots. The doctor immediately went down.”

Dr Hausknecht, aged 65, had been on his way to work at Houston Methodist Hospital when he was shot. He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment but died there as a result of his wounds.

The suspect was said to have been wearing a gray warm-up jacket together with khaki shorts and a tan baseball cap.

In 2000, Dr Hausknecht, a cardiologist by specialisation, treated Bush for an irregular heartbeat and the former president expressed his condolences to the doctor’s family.

In a statement, he said: “Mark was a fantastic cardiologist and a good man. I will always be grateful for his exceptional, compassionate care.”

Marc Boom, president of Houston Methodist Hospital, said of Dr Hausknecht: “His patients appreciated his kind bedside manner and the extra time he took to answer their questions and fully explain their condition and treatment.

“Our employees who worked with him said patients were so proud to call him their doctor,” he added.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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7 comments

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Hypoxic | 5 years ago
1 like

Yep, the US has had it's policy of social self destruction up and running for many decades now and it's really starting to pay dividends... Bush, Iraq war, world instability, Trump, Trump, Trump... The hard part is how to make sure your own country doesn't follow suite, which is not an easy task with the current talent of many of the politicians presently occupying parliaments around the world.

Thank God for bike riding!

 

Avatar
Legin replied to Hypoxic | 5 years ago
3 likes

Hypoxic wrote:

Yep, the US has had it's policy of social self destruction up and running for many decades now and it's really starting to pay dividends... Bush, Iraq war, world instability, Trump, Trump, Trump... The hard part is how to make sure your own country doesn't follow suite, which is not an easy task with the current talent of many of the politicians presently occupying parliaments around the world.

Thank God for bike riding!

 

And sadly we are no different; the outcome of Brexit driven by the filthy rich in their own self interest will result in the breakdown of social cohesion in this country. Thatcher kicked the process of and her children are now delivering it. I think I've only got 20 years or so to hang on thankfully; but it is a race between the pension running out and the reaper!

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Legin | 5 years ago
1 like

Legin wrote:

Hypoxic wrote:

Yep, the US has had it's policy of social self destruction up and running for many decades now and it's really starting to pay dividends... Bush, Iraq war, world instability, Trump, Trump, Trump... The hard part is how to make sure your own country doesn't follow suite, which is not an easy task with the current talent of many of the politicians presently occupying parliaments around the world.

Thank God for bike riding!

 

And sadly we are no different; the outcome of Brexit driven by the filthy rich in their own self interest will result in the breakdown of social cohesion in this country. Thatcher kicked the process of and her children are now delivering it. I think I've only got 20 years or so to hang on thankfully; but it is a race between the pension running out and the reaper!

I'm pretty sure it was happening before Thatcher (although I'm always happy to pin blame onto her).

https://scarfolk.blogspot.com/2014/09/north-scarfolk-independence-unity-...

Avatar
Cugel | 5 years ago
4 likes

What's it got to do with cycling?

Do websites centred on car stuff report every Yankee shooting incident where the protagonists are in cars? Perhaps websites dealing in walking do the same concerning the many pedestrian gunslingers? Running websites may feel agreived if the walking website mentions such an incident where the gun-toting murderers are scurrying rather than merely striding about like John Wayne with a bad case of dhobi itch.

But perhaps its just the manky mass news media getting in their customary poke at one of their favourite pariahs, the cyclist?

Cugel

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 5 years ago
0 likes

SNAFU, my ex step daughter lives in Houston, cycling is minimal, walking even less so, many roads don't even have a footpath next to them from the burbs.

What an awful way to die.

RIP

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
6 likes

From what I've seen of the place, the starkness of have and have not is greater than Europe. You'd never believe parts of America are in the richest country in the world.

Avatar
The_Vermonter replied to Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
4 likes

Yorkshire wallet wrote:

From what I've seen of the place, the starkness of have and have not is greater than Europe. You'd never believe parts of America are in the richest country in the world.

 

Having lived on both sides of the Atlantic, I absolutely agree. In fact, there is data to back this up. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/09/459087477/the-tipping...

As for the gun violence here, it is exhausting. I fail to see how nearly every other developed nation can strike a balance on gun ownership and public safety but The USA chooses to be the outlier. 

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