A 75-year-old Lake Elsinore man was charged today with murder for allegedly killing his doctor at a Newport Beach medical building.
(AP Photo/Orange County Sheriffs Department)
Stanwood Fred Elkus was expected to be arraigned today at the Santa Ana Central Jail in connection with the killing of Dr. Ronald Franklin Gilbert, a urologist who would have turned 53 today.
Gilbert, of Huntington Beach, was shot around 2:45 p.m., Monday Jan. 28 in an exam room on the second floor of a medical building at 520 Superior Ave., near Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, according to Kathy Lowe of the Newport Beach Police Department.
When officers arrived they found the victim and the suspect, who was taken into custody without incident, Lowe said. Investigators were not commenting on a possible motive.
According to prosecutors, Elkus went to Gilbert’s office armed with a gun and waited for the doctor to come in. Gilbert was shot multiple times in the chest, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Newport Beach police served a search warrant at Elkus’ home, Lowe said.
“We did recover evidence related to the crime at the home, but we’re not releasing exactly what that evidence is,” Lowe said.
Police seized the gun used in the shooting, Lowe said.
Gilbert, a husband and father of two reported to have been active in his synagogue, was a urologist at Orange Coast Urology.
Hoag Hospital President and chief executive officer Dr. Richard Afable called the shooting devastating.
“The Hoag Hospital family is devastated by the senseless act of violence against Dr. Ronald Gilbert, our former chief of the Department of Urology, who was on staff at the hospital for nearly 20 years,” Afable said.
“Dr. Gilbert dedicated his career to serving others,” Afable said.
“He was admired, respected and beloved by the Hoag family and will be deeply missed. Dr. Gilbert joined Hoag’s staff on Nov. 2, 1993, and served as the chair of the Urology Department from October 1998 to September 2002. Our thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Gilbert’s family, staff, friends, patients, our employees and medical staff.”
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