WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A psychiatrist was stabbed to death in an alley behind his holistic practice in Kansas, and a man identified as one of his patients has been arrested in the killing, police said Thursday.
Achutha Reddy, 57, was killed in the attack Wednesday evening at the Holistic Psychiatry Services clinic in Wichita. Police Lt. Todd Ojile said the suspect in custody was Reddy's client, but authorities do not know what prompted the attack.
Police said the suspect and Reddy had been seen entering the clinic together earlier in the day. The suspect left and later returned, and the two entered an office together. The office manager heard a disturbance, found the client assaulting the doctor and tried to intervene, allowing Reddy to flee the building. The suspect followed Reddy into the alley where the doctor was stabbed multiple times, Ojile said.
The 21-year-old suspect was arrested later after a security guard at the Wichita Country Club called police because a bloodied man was sitting in a vehicle in the parking lot.
No charges have been filed, but the man was being held on suspicion of first-degree murder. Ojile said investigators expect the case to be presented to the district attorney's office today.
Holistic Psychiatric Services says on its website it "serves the needs of your mind, spirit, and body." Its psychiatric medication evaluation and treatment may include yoga and meditation.
Brenda Trammel, the outpatient clinician at Holistic Psychiatry Services, said she did not know what led the patient to attack the doctor.
Her voice broke as she read from a prepared statement calling Reddy "an amazing, compassionate man that was kind and loving to anyone he met. He had a gift of knowing what each and every one of us needed and gave it freely. He would often tell me you have to live life to the fullest and this is how he lived his life."
She said Reddy thought of himself as "our father" and believed it was his job to guide them to do well in their lives.
"He expected the best from all of us and we gave it to him with the same abandon he gave to us," Trammel said. "The senselessness of this action bears heavy on all of our souls, but knowing him we have to believe in his principles and he would tell us this was his destiny, do not be tearful for me, I will always be there with you."