A California man who was hospitalized with COVID-19 has been charged with beating a coronavirus patient to death with an oxygen tank, according to the Los Angeles County Police Department.
Police said Jesse Martinez, 37, was being treated at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster and was housed in a two-person room with an 82-year-old roommate.
Martinez became annoyed with the older man when he began to pray, says the sheriff’s circle, and hit him with an oxygen tank.
The victim was declared dead of his wounds the following day. Authorities say the two men do not know each other.
Martinez was charged with murder, promoting hate crimes and elder abuse, and bail was set at $ 1 million, the sheriff’s ministry says.
