Joseph James Pappas, the man suspected of killing former President George H.W. Bush’s cardiologist last month, committed suicide Friday morning following a run-in with law enforcement, according to Houston police.
“This is our suspect. Our suspect’s deceased. He committed suicide when he was confronted by two members of the Houston police department,” Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters mid-Friday.
Police had issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Pappas in the July 20 fatal shooting of 65-year-old Mark Hausknecht.
The doctor was gunned down while riding his bicycle to work at the Texas Medical Center.
They also received video footage from a local resident’s home security system that captured who police believe was Pappas.
Authorities believe Pappas went after the 65-year-old doctor because his mother had died while being operated on by Hausknecht 20 years ago.
“It appears that this might be a 20-year-old grudge,” Acevedo said Wednesday.
“We also learned that the suspect had not been heard from by people that know him for over 24 hours and there is a text that he sent someone that said he was going to kill himself,” Acevedo said Wednesday.
Hausknecht had treated Bush in 2000 for symptoms that led them to discover an irregular heartbeat.
