Records: Suspect suffered from severe depression

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Records show the suspect in a deadly shooting at a homeowners meeting in Louisville had suffered from severe depression.

The Courier-Journal cited records obtained from the Kentucky medical licensing board through an open records request in reporting that Mahmoud Yousef Hindi, a nuclear physician, gave up his medical practice in Mayfield due to his depression.

Hindi was arrested after the shooting last week at a meeting of the Spring Creek Homeowners Association. He was charged with murder in the death of 73-year-old David Merritt, who died at the scene.

Hindi pleaded not guilty Saturday to that charge as well as assault and wanton endangerment. A second man, 69-year-old Marvin Fisher, died Sunday.

The records obtained by the newspaper show that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure investigated Hindi after a 2006 accusation that he ordered medical tests for a person after his license expired.

As part of the investigation, David A. Meyer of Paducah Psychiatry Group wrote a letter to the board in 2007 that said Hindi had been under his treatment for severe depression for three years and "despite multiple interventions" he still showed symptoms and was unable to practice medicine.

"Dr. Hindi is a fine gentleman with unlimited patience. He has cooperated fully with treatment efforts," Meyer wrote.

Records show Hindi had expressed a desire to reopen his practice.

Hindi had been in a dispute with the homeowners group over a fence and a driveway at his home.