Murdered Yale Doctor Vajinder Toor's Former Colleague to be Arraigned Today
BRANFORD, Conn. (CBS/AP) Dr. Lishan Wang was charged Monday with fatally shooting a Yale University doctor and firing at the victim's pregnant wife after a history of confrontations with other colleagues that led to his dismissal from a New York hospital.
PICTURES: Yale Doctor Murdered
Branford police said the 44-year-old is charged with murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses in the fatal shooting of Dr. Vajinder Toor outside his home Monday. Police say Wang, a Chinese citizen from Beijing who was last known to be living in Marietta, Ga., also fired at Toor's wife, but she was not struck.
Toor worked at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York before joining Yale. Police are investigating whether Toor and the gunman had a dispute on the job, using information provided by the victim's wife, said Lt. Geoffrey Morgan.
Wang and Toor were involved in a confrontation a few years ago at Kingsbrook after Wang left his post at the intensive care unit and was not reachable for a few hours, according to a hospital employee who spoke on condition of anonymity. The employee said Toor reprimanded him and that Wang threatened Toor in front of other employees.
Wang filed a federal discrimination lawsuit last year against the hospital. He talked about a heated exchange with his supervisor in the hospital's residency program, "Dr. Vajinder," in May, 2008 after Vajinder accused him of ignoring pages and calls from hospital staff.
It is one of several allegations of anger and behavioral problems that Wang acknowledges he was cited for while in the program. In the lawsuit, he said he was unfairly labeled excitable, emotional and unable to control his anger.
Wang was suspended with pay on May 22, 2008, and notified by letter that the hospital had decided to propose firing him. He was told by the union that the hospital would only allow him to remain employed if he sought disability leave for mental impairment. He was fired in July.
On Monday, Toor was walking in the parking lot toward his car at Meadows condominiums, miles from the Ivy League campus, shortly before 8 a.m. when he was shot multiple times.
Wang was taken into custody on a traffic stop nearby after residents provided police with details about the suspect and his vehicle, police said.
Wang is being held on $2 million bond and is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in New Haven Superior Court.
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April 26, 2010 - Yale Doctor Vajinder Toor Murdered at Home; Suspect May Have Threatened Victim Years Ago