Gunman Kills Doctor, Medical Aide in Tulare

A patient shot a doctor to death Wednesday, then drove two blocks to another office where he killed a physician’s assistant and wounded a nurse’s aide, police said.

At the Tulare Family Practice Medical Group, Lupe Padilla allegedly shot Dr. Eugene Zehren, 49, four times in the chest “after having words,” Police Chief Roger Hill said. The family physician was killed.

Padilla then drove around the corner to Valley Industrial Medical Group Inc., authorities said.

“He said he wanted to talk to the doctor and that he wouldn’t talk to him in the hallway,” said Debra Aneola, a dental assistant at Valley Industrial.

The gunman shot physician’s assistant Keith Garner, 35, in the chest and nursing assistant Irma Rodriguez in the heel as she fled, Davis said. He said Garner was killed without warning or provocation.

Detectives seeking a possible motive were investigating reports that Padilla had been denied renewal of a painkiller prescription, Davis said.

Detectives had not interrogated Padilla because he was being treated under guard at a hospital for a gunshot wound to his left hand, apparently from his own 9-millimeter handgun, Davis said.

Police followed a trail of blood from the office to a van, where Padilla was arrested for investigation of two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, authorities said.