Friends and family say goodbye to an Eastern Kentucky doctor who died earlier this week after a man allegedly shot him.

We talked to friends about how they will remember him.

It was a sad day for friends and family of Dr. Dennis Sandlin. Sandlin was allegedly shot and killed by 46-year-old John Combs of Knott County at the Leatherwood-Blackey Clinic on Tuesday.

“It’s been a big tragedy and a personal loss for me that Denny was taken from us in the way he was taken,” Mitchell Wicker says.

Sue Logan has known doctor sandlin since the mid 1950s.

“I’ve watched him grow up,” Logan says. “I worked with him as a physician at hazard arh. I've just known him through the years as a friend.”

Combs allegedly killed Dr. Sandlin after he would not write him a prescription for painkillers.

Lieutenant Governor Daniel Mongiardo was a close friend to Dr. Sandlin.

He says this is another situation where the drug problem in eastern Kentucky is evident.

“If his death is not in vain, then those of us in elected positions need to elevate to the level of consciousness of people throughout this state,” Mongiardo says. “We've paid enough.”

Friends of Dr. Sandlin say they will remember him for his compassion and his commitment to providing the best quality healthcare to anyone who needed it in Eastern Kentucky.

“He was a community oriented person in his hometown of buckhorn and in Perry county in general,” Logan says. “He was a delight to work with.”

And all say doctor sandlin will be terribly missed.

Combs is charged with murdering Dr. Sandlin. If convicted, prosecutors could seek the death penalty.