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An Indiana doctor who graduated from the University of Utah medical school has been arrested on suspicion of killing three adults and a child in attacks apparently aimed at two Nebraska professors who fired him shortly after his 1999 graduation.
Physician Anthony J. Garcia, 40, is accused of murdering Creighton University medical school pathology professor Roger Brumback and his wife in May, according to Associated Press reports. Garcia allegedly broke in, fatally shot the professor and stabbed Mary Brumback to death, said Omaha police Chief Todd Schmaderer.
Garcia also is suspected in the 2008 stabbing deaths of the son and housekeeper of another Creighton pathology professor, William Hunter, in 2008. Police said 11-year-old Thomas Hunter and the housekeeper, Shirlee Sherman, likely were not the intended targets of the attack.
Investigators believe Garcia acted alone.
Garcia, now a resident of Terre Haute, Ind., was arrested Monday during a traffic stop in southern Illinois. Garcia appeared to be intoxicated and had a .45-caliber handgun when he was arrested, Schmaderer said.
Garcia is being held without bond in Jackson County, Ill., on suspicion of four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of using a weapon to commit a felony, Schmaderer said. The police chief didn't provide further details.
Garcia graduated from the U. School of Medicine with a speciality in family practice in 1999, according to a class report on the U. medical school website. He was slated to start a residency at the Bassett-St. Elizabeth Hospital Family Practice Program, Utica, N.Y., but instead became a resident at the Creighton pathology department. Brumback and Hunter fired him in 2001 because he displayed erratic behavior.
In the 12 years since, Garcia appears to have bounced around the country looking for work, living in at least six different places, the Omaha World-Herald reported. It wasn't immediately clear where Garcia grew up, but he appears to have family in the wealthy California community of Walnut and was issued a Social Security card in the state when he was a teenager, the newspaper reported.
Twitter: @lwhitehurst