The man arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of a Newport Beach doctor is a 75-year-old resident of Lake Elsinore, police said Tuesday.
Stanwood Fred Elkus was taken into custody without incident after police responded to a call that shots were fired at an Orange County medical office at about 2:45 p.m. Monday, officers said.
The doctor, Ronald Franklin Gilbert, was shot in a second-floor patient room in a medical building on Superior Ave., police said. Gilbert, who joined the Hoag Hospital staff in November 1993, served as chair of the Urology Department from October 1998 to September 2002.
Hoag Hospital released a statement Tuesday: "Dr. Gilbert dedicated his career to serving others. He was admired, respected and beloved by the Hoag family and will be deeply missed."
Newport Beach police spokeswoman Kathy Lowe said police received a call from someone reporting hearing up to seven shots fired in the medical office. Police arrived and found both the gunman and the shooting victim in the office.
An employee who works in the building said the gunman had a scheduled appointment with the slain doctor.
Because the building is so new, witnesses initially thought the shooting was the sound of construction.
"I thought it was construction, like a nail gun," said Kristin Crotty, an employee at the medical facility.
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The doctor has a wife and two children. His family declined to comment late Monday.
