TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — An Indiana doctor managed to restrain his armed assailant despite a gunshot wound in the arm, wrestling his attacker to the ground and holding tight until police arrived.
Andre Uche Obua, 28, of Miami is being held in Vigo County Jail on a preliminary charge of attempted murder. The would-be killer allegedly told a nurse that he stalked his target from his office to his home before taking aim and pulling the trigger.
Obua compared his attempted slaying to the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City.
According to court documents, on Wednesday evening the doctor pulled into his garage in the 500 block of Grayburn Court in Terre Haute and noticed a black Lincoln Navigator immediately pull in behind him.
The doctor thought the vehicle was a DoorDash delivery driver until a gunshot suddenly rang out. The doctor tried to close his garage door but said an armed assailant exited the Lincoln and rushed into the garage.
The doctor told police he was still sitting inside his vehicle when the armed Obua ran up and fired at him with a pistol. This is when the doctor was shot in the arm.
After opening fire on the doctor’s vehicle, Obua ran back toward his Lincoln and grabbed a “shotgun-style weapon” from the backseat. Court documents reveal this is when the doctor ran out and confronted the man, wrestling for control of the weapon.
While jockeying for the firearm, the doctor allegedly asked the suspect why he was attacking him.
“Scam,” Obua reportedly answered.
Obua then slipped on a patch of ice and both men fell to the ground, according to the doctor’s account. Obua attempted to put the doctor into a chokehold but the victim said he struck his attacker in the genitals and escaped his grasp. The blow between Obua’s legs also caused him to drop the shotgun.
The doctor told his wife to grab the gun and run.
The doctor was able to restrain the man until deputies arrived on scene.
Both the doctor and the suspect were taken to a hospital to be treated for their injuries. Police said the doctor had a gunshot wound in his forearm as well as a laceration and a bruise on his left shoulder.
At the hospital, Obua allegedly told a nurse that he had followed the doctor from his office to his home and attacked the man due to a “multi-million dollar money scam going on between a couple of doctors in the same office as the victim.”
Online records show that Obua is in his third year of residency in Miami. He told the nurse he drove 18 hours from Terre Haute to Florida and lied to his wife, telling her he drove up to Terre Haute as part of his residency requirements.
Obua also allegedly made several references to the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York, according to the nurse, calling his situation “very similar.”
The victim told detectives he had no knowledge of Obua and had no idea who his attacker was.
Obua is being held in the Vigo County Jail on preliminary charges of attempted murder, criminal recklessness and burglary.
