A Boston cardiac surgeon who died after being critically wounded by a gunman at Brigham and Women's Hospital on Tuesday was expecting a baby with his wife, who is seven months pregnant, the hospital announced on Wednesday.
Dr. Michael Davidson, of Wellesley, Mass., was shot twice at the cardiac center by Stephen Pasceri, of Millbury, Mass., on Tuesday morning, New York Daily News reported. Despite frantic efforts of co-workers, the 44-year-old died of his injuries on late Tuesday.
"You all should be absolutely assured that Michael Davidson was one of the kindest, best possible men that ever walked on this earth," his colleague and mentor Dr. Andrew Eisenhauer said today at a news conference. "We knew that and his patients knew that and his family knows that."
On Tuesday, a lone gunman entered the Boston hospital and demanded to see the cardiovascular surgeon. "The doctor came out to see him - that's when altercation took place," said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans.
After shooting Davidson, the 55-year-old suspect turned the gun on himself and committed suicide in an examining room, Boston police said, adding that Pasceri had some kind of previous relationship with the doctor.
According to sources, Pasceri's mother, who died in November, was a former patient of Davidson's.
"There was something in the past that upset this guy that had him come in looking for this particular doctor," Evans told WCVB-TV.
Davidson is survived by three children -- ages nine, seven and two and a half years old -- and his wife, Brigham and Women's Hospital said Wednesday.
His colleagues described him as someone who introduced himself to patients as "Mike Davidson" instead of "Dr. Davidson," played guitar and had "a silly side." He was also part of a band called Operating Room with other Brigham and Women's doctors, ABC News reported.
