'Highly probable' slaying of Houston doctor a targeted attack, police chief says

Houston police officers investigate the scene of a homicide near Holcombe and Main Friday, July 20, 2018, in Houston. Cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht, was shot and killed while riding a bicycle. Houston police officers investigate the scene of a homicide near Holcombe and Main Friday, July 20, 2018, in Houston. Cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht, was shot and killed while riding a bicycle. Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close 'Highly probable' slaying of Houston doctor a targeted attack, police chief says 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

It was as brazen a killing as police have seen.

Wearing a backpack and riding a mountain bike, the mysterious man swiftly passed another cyclist from behind near the busy Texas Medical Center as doctors, nurses and patients filed into the complex at the start of the workday.

REWARD OFFERED: Crime Stoppers offers $5,000 for information

The killer rode a couple of blocks ahead of his target and then, in broad daylight and with surveillance cameras and potential witnesses on every corner, opened fire on a renowned cardiologist in the middle of Main Street. The doctor, biking to work in his scrubs, was struck three times and went down immediately. Meanwhile the killer — dressed inconspicuously in a blue polo shirt, khaki shorts, sunglasses and a cap — vanished into the rush-hour crowd.

A week later, Houston police are still searching for a suspect and motive in the slaying of Dr. Mark Hausknecht, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

On Thursday, however, Chief Art Acevedo offered a new detail that confirmed what some experts already suspected: Hausknecht's July 20th slaying was likely a targeted attack.

"It is highly probable he was targeted," Acevedo said in a text message Thursday morning.

Hausknecht, 65, who had admitting privileges at Houston Methodist and Memorial Hermann hospitals and once treated former President George H.W. Bush, had practiced medicine in Houston for more than three decades. After his slaying, Bush issued a statement praising him as a "fantastic cardiologist and a good man."

The victim's wife, Dr. Georgia R. Hsieh, released a statement urging the passage of "sensible gun laws." The family has planned a funeral service for 10 a.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church. In addition to his wife, Hausknecht is survived by two sons, his mother and three siblings.

In the days after his shooting death, police released a composite sketch as well as a slow trickle of video and still photographs from the moments before he was gunned down. Crime Stoppers offered a $5,000 reward that netted several workable tips — but none good enough to crack the case, even as investigators combed through "tons and tons" of surveillance video, according to a source familiar with the case.

Meanwhile, police have stayed tight-lipped about progress on the investigation. It's not yet known what route the shooter took to escape, how many people may have witnessed the slaying or what kind of gun the killer used. And as of Thursday morning, authorities still offered conflicting information as to whether it appeared random or a hit.

Though CNN reported Wednesday that officials believed it was targeted, citing an interview with Acevedo, a police spokesman equivocated, saying it was also possible the shooting was random. Acevedo then put out a text and tweet expressing his belief that the doctor was targeted.

But even as authorities work to unravel the who and the how, there's still no word on why.

"Murder usually comes down to two motives: some type of passion, or money," said Charles A. McClelland, Houston's police chief from 2009 to 2016. "That's it."

McClelland, who spent eight years in the city's homicide division during his 39-year HPD career, said the case raised specific questions, particularly over the assailant's bold decision to use a bicycle in a busy area like the Med Center.

"Your avenue to escape on a bicycle is a lot more risky than in a car," McClelland said. "Usually murders are not this complicated."

But Larry Karson, a criminal justice lecturer at the University of Houston-Downtown, highlighted the possible upsides of using a bike to make a getaway.

"The advantage of a bike is they don't get caught in traffic jams, they're easily disposed of and they can go against traffic," he said. "You're a block away almost instantly and nobody knows anything."

Hausknecht was shot just before 9 a.m. while traveling northbound on Main Street near the intersection with Holcombe Boulevard. Main passes under Holcombe at the crossing, which is surrounded by medical office buildings, a hotel, parking lots and a Pizza Hut. The shooting scene is also near winding residential neighborhoods, a bike trail along Brays Bayou and Hermann Park.

It's the same set of advantages that make bike patrols appealing to police.

For Antonio Leal, a retired Texas Rangers chief, the use of a bicycle raises other questions — like the possibility that Hausknecht's killer had observed him and carefully planned the attack.

"This guy rides his bike to work every day, and for the guy who assaulted him to ride a bike as well, that tells me he's probably traveled that space several times," he said, "because it would be much easier to just run someone over in a car with no license plate."

Given what is known publicly, Leal said, it's likely not a murder-for-hire.

"In those cases there's usually a third person who will benefit from the murder who needs to be anonymous," he said.

But eliminating possible scenarios may be easier than establishing a motive — though Michael E. Anderson, former assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Houston field office, raised some of the questions that investigators are likely considering.

"Was there someone who had a dispute with the doctor, a personal dispute or professional dispute? That's what I would look at," he said. "It could be an absolute random incident — but random crimes do not occur that often."

Leal agreed, adding that if it were random, it is likely there would have been others — and there's no history of other slayings with the same tactics.

"There is a chance that it was totally random," he said, "but 95 percent of the time crime is like water — it takes the easiest path."