- California police arrested a man accused of killing an 82-year-old patient undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at a hospital on December 17.
- Jesse Martinez, 37, was arrested and charged with murder, increased hate crimes and elder abuse, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said this week.
- Detectives said Martinez was furious when the man started praying. They said that Martinez, who shared the hospital room with the man, attacked him with an oxygen tank.
- The investigation is ongoing, the department said.
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California police are investigating the death of a man in a hospital that they said was hit by another patient with an oxygen tank.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said this week that Jesse Martinez, 37, assaulted an 82-year-old Hispanic man who was being treated by COVID-19 in the same room at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster on December 17.
Martinez was charged with murder, intensifying hate crimes and abuse of the elderly, the department said. He is due to appear in court in Antelope Valley on Monday.
Detectives said Martinez was furious when the man started praying and then attacked the man with an oxygen tank. The man was pronounced dead the next day.
The two men did not know each other, the department said.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the Los Angeles Times in a statement that he was “shocked and sad” to learn of the man’s death.
The investigation is ongoing, the department said.