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Doctor arrested on gun, threat charges
By LEANORA MINAI © St. Petersburg Times, published July 28, 2000 ST. PETERSBURG -- A doctor terminated from an internal medicine practice has been arrested on charges that he returned and threatened the office manager with a gun. Dr. Sellal Ahmed, 36, was fired Monday from the office of Dr. Mehul Shah at 1111 Seventh Ave. N. On Wednesday, police said, Ahmed returned to the suite with a stainless steel revolver. After exchanging words with the office manager, Ahmed pointed the gun at him, police said. "I can blow you into 30,000 pieces," Ahmed told the office manager,
Ahmed, a Bradenton resident, was arrested in the lobby of the St. Petersburg Police Department, where he went after the incident. He is charged with aggravated assault and is in the Pinellas County Jail on $10,000 bail. After the arrest, St. Anthony's Hospital revoked Ahmed's privileges to work at the hospital. He has practiced at Manatee Memorial Hospital and Blake Medical Center in Bradenton. Doctors in the St. Petersburg and Bradenton offices where he worked refused to comment Thursday. Ahmed's license is clear and shows no discipline or malpractice claims, according to the Florida Department of Health. Last week, he received a permit to carry a concealed weapon. His encounter with office manager Dean Hoffman began at 1:45 p.m. Wednesday when Ahmed returned to the St. Petersburg medical office adjacent to the hospital to retrieve his diplomas, said St. Petersburg Officer Dan Bates, spokesman. Hoffman, 30, took the opportunity to ask Ahmed to return his issued beeper. Ahmed said he did not have it. Then, Ahmed calmly reached in his waistband, pulled out a .38-caliber gun and pointed it at Hoffman's nose, police said. "Don't f--- with me," Ahmed told Hoffman, according to police. Hoffman told police that Ahmed kept talking, but that he only remembered Ahmed's last words: "Your boss is a f------ a--hole." Ahmed then stuffed the gun in his waistband and walked out. Hoffman dialed 911, and Ahmed drove to the police station, where he planned to make a complaint that someone was about to lodge a false allegation against him. Ahmed was detained in the lobby, questioned and arrested. Police recovered Ahmed's Taurus gun from the driver's side compartment of his blue 1998 Lincoln Town Car. The gun was cocked and loaded, police said. One spent casing also was in the gun holder along with ammunition. "Where he shot the gun off I have no idea," Bates said. Hoffman said Thursday that he and the medical office had no comment. Ahmed received his medical degree from Dow Medical College in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1989. He trained at four hospitals in New York and completed his fellowship in geriatric medicine in June 1999. He worked under Dr. John K. Head, a family practitioner, at Oaks Medical Plaza in Bradenton until March. A receptionist said Ahmed had been fired. Ahmed, board-certified in internal and geriatric medicine, came to St. Petersburg, where, in April, he received temporary working privileges at St. Anthony's Hospital. - Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Staff Writer Leanora Minai can be reached at (727) 893-8406 or at minai@sptimes.com.
 © St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved. 
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