Thaindian News

By Arun Kumar
Washington, April 28 (IANS) A Chinese doctor allegedly murdered his former Indian American supervisor after stalking the victim who he blamed for getting him fired, according to prosecutors.

The suspect, Lishan Wang, 44, was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he shot Dr. Vajinder Pal Toor, 34, five times in Branford, Connecticut Monday morning in the parking lot of Dr. Toor’s condominium complex. Wang had been fired two years ago from a Brooklyn hospital after a confrontation with Toor, the assistant US attorney Devant Joiner said at the arraignment at New Haven Superior Court.

Police said he also had 1,000 rounds of ammunition, enough for a massacre, New York Daily News said. Unemployed Wang did not enter a plea or even look up at his arraignment and is being held on $2 million bail. The next date of hearing has been set as May 11.

Joiner said cops found two loaded handguns, printed directions to Dr. Vajinder Toor’s home and a photo of the doc, a former colleague with whom Wang had clashed at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Centre in Brooklyn.

The police report said he also had printouts for two other doctors who were directly involved in Wang’s 2008 firing from Kingsbrook.

A neighbour told the Daily News he saw Wang, who lives near Atlanta, sitting in his red 1996 Dodge Caravan outside the home in Branford where Toor lived with his pregnant wife and 3-year-old son. It was 5:30 a.m. Sunday - more than 24 hours before Wang allegedly opened fire.

“He had his window open. I looked right into his face and he looked into mine. His face was expressionless. It creeped me out,” Kalani Lopa, 56, was quoted as saying. “He was casing the place. He was stalking that poor family. It’s beyond tragic.”

Another witness told police that when she saw Wang he appeared to have draped a pink towel over his head. When Toor, 34, emerged just before 8 a.m. Monday to go to work at Yale Medical School, Wang allegedly got out of his van and shot him five times at point blank range, once to the head.

Toor’s wife Parneeta Sidhu, who yelled “what are you doing to my husband” before having to dive behind a car because Wang fired wildly at her, told the Daily News she was having trouble coping with her terrible loss.

“I’m devastated,” she was cited as saying. She finally managed to tell her son that his dad was not coming home, according to a relative. “How do you tell a child their father is gone? It’s awful. Just awful,” the relative said.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)