Los Angeles, Calif., Dec 29, 2020 / 12:52 pm
Jesse Martinez, a COVID-19 patient who beat a fellow patient to death with an oxygen tank at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, will be arraigned on December 31st for murder, elder abuse, and religion-motivated hate crime, authorities announced on December 28.
The victim, David Hernandez-Garcia, an 82-year-old Catholic Latino man, was a resident of Lancaster, a suburb north of Los Angeles in California. He was being treated for a COVID-19 infection in a two-person room.
According to a report from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, on Thursday, December 17, 2020, at approximately 9:45 a.m., "the victim was at Antelope Valley Hospital receiving treatment for Covid-19. He was housed in a two-person room inside the hospital with the suspect, who was also there receiving treatment. The suspect became upset when the victim started to pray. He then struck the victim with an oxygen tank."
"The victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased on December 18, 2020, at approximately 10:20 a.m. The victim and suspect did not know each other", the statement added.