Locked in a struggle with a drug-seeking gunman, Dr. Parvis Jian pulled a black ski mask from his assailant's face and confirmed what he already knew: The man pistol-whipping him in his own office was an opium-addicted patient who he had been treating for months.

Wednesday was to be the man's final appointment, he told the police.

In a criminal complaint against William Scannell, the man charged in the doctor's robbery and assault, police said that he fled Dr. Jian's Bellevue office with $330 and 67 tablets of suboxone, a prescription given to treat addiction to opiates, such as heroin.

Police said Mr. Scannell fired four shots during the robbery and struck the doctor and his wife, Forouhar Jian, with a silver handgun before fleeing the professional building, spawning a manhunt that ended early yesterday, when Allegheny County sheriff's deputies arrested him in Oakland.

Charges against Mr. Scannell, 35, include aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, robbery and theft. He was being held in the Allegheny County Jail last night on $200,000 bond, and a judge ordered him to be evaluated in the jail's behavioral clinic.

Dr. Jian and his wife, who is also his office manager, both suffered lacerations to the head and face, the complaint said. Mrs. Jian also suffered a burn to the left side of her face from the gun's muzzle blast.

She told police that Mr. Scannell called the office on Lincoln Avenue about 5 p.m. Wednesday to tell her he would be late for his 5:30 p.m. appointment.

Dr. Jian planned to drop Mr. Scannell as his patient, the complaint says.

About 5:30, after other employees had left, a gunman entered the office wearing gray coveralls, a black ski mask and sunglasses and ordered Mrs. Jian to "take it off!"

The complaint says she later realized he was referring to a fanny pack around her waist, where she keeps suboxone. Dr. Jian told police that Mr. Scannell and other addiction patients are given the drug directly from her fanny pack.

Mrs. Jian then struggled with Mr. Scannell, who "struck her repeatedly about the face and head," the complaint says. When the doctor tried to intervene and pull him away, he was also beaten, and Mr. Scannell pointed the gun at the pair several times. The doctor told police he pointed it directly at him and fired one shot, then fired three more toward both of them.

After the fourth shot was fired, Dr. Jian said he was able to pull off the man's ski mask.

He told police "he already knew that Scannell was the man who was attempting to rob them," but could clearly see his face after the mask was removed, the complaint says.

Mr. Scannell has robbery and burglary convictions in his past that prevent him from possessing a firearm, police said.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for next week.

Sadie Gurman can be reached at sgurman@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1878.

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