Dementia patient killed by another, police say

EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A coroner says the death of a 70-year-old dementia patient at the hands of another patient at a western Pennsylvania nursing home is a homicide, though state police have yet to file criminal charges to that effect.

Mark Fox is a spokesman for Grane Healthcare, which runs the Cambria Care Center in Ebensburg. Fox tells the Altoona-Mirror that 78-year-old Ray Dunmyer Jr. attacked the victim, Thomas Shaw, on Saturday even after staff tried to stop him. The Cambria County Coroner says Shaw died of trauma injuries, including having Dunmyer repeatedly slam his head with a door.

Police have charged Dunmyer with aggravated assault and he’s been transferred to another facility. But police have yet to decide whether to charge him with homicide, in part because of his mental condition.

State welfare officials are also investigating the incident.