George H.W. Bush offers condolences after cardiologist killed in shooting

George H.W. Bush offered condolences on Friday after a cardiologist who previously treated the former president was killed in a drive-by shooting.

Bush, 94, issued a statement through his spokesman on Twitter after authorities said Dr. Mark Hausknecht was shot and killed by a fellow cyclist while riding near the Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women in downtown Houston.

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“Mark was a fantastic cardiologist and a good man,” Bush said in the statement. “I will always be grateful for his exceptional, compassionate care. His family is in our prayers.”

Bush spokesman Jim McGrath added that the nation’s 41st president was “deeply saddened by the tragic circumstances.”

Statement by President @GeorgeHWBush on the tragic death of Houston cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht. pic.twitter.com/Wl0g6IK3c5

— Jim McGrath (@jgm41) July 20, 2018

A suspect in the shooting was described as a 20- to 30-year-old Hispanic man, but a motive has not yet been released by police, who say road rage could have been involved, according to CNN.

Houston Police Department Executive Assistant Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Friday that Hausknecht’s shooting was likely caught on city surveillance cameras.

“There are a lot of cameras so we’re hoping we can get some footage of this and bring this violent criminal into custody, where he needs to be right away,” he said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Marc Boom, head of Houston Methodist Hospital where Hausknecht worked, said that patients “appreciated his kind bedside manner and the extra time he took to answer their questions and fully explain their condition and treatment.”

“We will all miss seeing Mark in the hallways and seeing patients in the cath lab and [coronary care unit], where he was known as a compassionate physician with a phenomenal bedside manner,” Boom said, according to the Chronicle. “Our employees who worked with him said patients were so proud to call him their doctor.”