Thursday, March 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Laxma Reddy, 41, was pronounced dead at Elko General Hospital, according to Barbara Hutchinson, night supervisor.
Elko County Sheriff Neil Harris confirmed early today that Reddy was the same man Massachusetts authorities had been seeking for questioning in connection with the execution-style killings near Boston of Uma Reddy, 41; her father, Jaganatha Reddy, 58, and her daughter, 13-year-old Kirthi Reddy.
Harris said investigators from Boston were expected to arrive in Elko today.
Reddy was shot around 7 p.m. Wednesday after he emerged from his car holding a black handgun after being pulled over by Elko County Sheriff's deputy Jim Pitts, authorities said.
Pitts was not injured, and it was not known if there was any return fire. But a witness at the scene after the shooting said about ten shell casings were found on the ground.
A memorial service was held in Brookline, Mass., Wednesday evening for the slain family members at the Hare Krishna temple.
Uma Reddy was married to Laxma Reddy.
The three were shot in an apparent execution as they slept in their apartment, prosecutors said. Their bodies were found Monday.
Brookline and state police officers flew to Cleveland to notify and question Laxma Reddy after discovering the bodies, but they did not find him at his last known address there.
In November, Laxma Reddy left in the middle of his second year of residency in internal medicine at St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland, hospital officials said. They said they did not know where he went.
Friends said he recently visited his family in Brookline, but has not been seen in weeks. The family is originally from Andhrapradesh in southern India, but moved to the United States so Laxma Reddy could study medicine here, friends said.
He received his medical degree in August 1979 from Gandhi Medical College in India. From July 1993 to June 1994, he was an intern at Cabrini Medical Center in New York City.
The bodies were discovered Monday morning by police responding to a call from the building superintendent after parents dropping off children at Uma Reddy's day care service said no one answered the door.
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