Elderly COVID-19 patient beaten to death by fellow patient allegedly for praying | Inquirer News

Elderly COVID-19 patient beaten to death by fellow patient allegedly for praying

/ 05:21 PM December 24, 2020

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An 82-year-old COVID-19 patient was beaten to death with an oxygen tank by a fellow COVID-19 patient allegedly because the former, a Catholic, was praying.

The 37-year-old suspect, named Jesse Martinez, was being treated for the disease alongside his elderly roommate, whose name was withheld, at a hospital in California, USA, as per Los Angeles Times yesterday, Dec. 23.

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Martinez reportedly became flustered when the 82-year-old began to pray in the morning of Dec. 17. He picked up an oxygen tank and hit the old man in the head around before 10 a.m.

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The suspect was then detained by hospital staff before police arrived, according to the report. The two COVID-19 patients did not know each other.

Martinez has since been arrested and was charged with murder, with an enhancement for elder abuse and religion-motivated hate crime, the report said.

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“These families were already experiencing a hardship and now this — it’s senseless,” Lancaster City Mayor R. Rex Parris was quoted as saying. Ian Biong /ra

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TAGS: California, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crime, elderly, Lancaster, Murder, United States

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