Texas nursing home resident charged in roommates’ deaths

HOUSTON – A Houston nursing home resident accused of using the armrest of his wheelchair to beat two of his roommates to death is facing a capital murder charge, police said Wednesday.

Guillermo Correa, 56, was in custody after being formally charged following the Tuesday evening incident at the Lexington Place Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

Police said the two victims, identified in court records as Antonio Acosta, 77, and Primitivo Lopez, 51, suffered head trauma and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Nursing home employees told investigators Correa did not get along with his roommates and got into a fight with them, police spokesman Victor Senties said. But exactly what sparked the fight is still not known, he said. Another person was in the room during the attack and is being questioned by police.

Irma Chavez, Acosta’s daughter, said her father had long complained about Correa scaring him – as recently as earlier Tuesday.

“My father said to me, ‘Mija please, can they move this man out of this room?’ ” she said as she stood outside the nursing home on Wednesday.

Chavez, 51, said Correa would cut himself, often talked to himself and would argue with other people in the facility. Police said Correa uses a wheelchair but Chavez said he could walk around.

According to Chavez, when she reported those complaints to nursing home management, she was told she could move her father to a different facility.

“They said in order for people to move that person, he has to commit a crime or something. And now two people are dead,” she said crying.