Officials in Burlington County announced that police charges a Maple Shade man with Attempted Murder (First Degree) after severely beating his elderly roommate at the care facility where they reside.
According to police, Mr. David P. Lake, 51, is a resident of The Palace Rehabilitation and Care Center in the 300 block of West Mill Road.
Police officials begin investigating after police and EMS were dispatched to the facility on the morning of January 17 on a report of an assault.
Police say the investigation revealed that Lake violently beat his 78-year-old roommate, who is immobile and non-verbal, while the victim was in his bed in their room.
EMS transported the man to Cooper University Hospital in Camden, where he was listed in critical but stable condition, with severe facial trauma and bleeding on his brain.
Police said Lake was taken to a separate medical facility for a psychiatric evaluation.
Authorities are not clear what led up to the assault.
Police arrested Lake after the brief hospital stay then lodged him in the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly pending a detention hearing in Superior Court.