COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - The central Missouri veterans' hospital where one patient allegedly beat another to death is not immune to violence.
The Columbia Missourian (http://bit.ly/115IM1j ) reports that federal investigators have tallied 35 violent acts by patients at Truman Veterans Hospital. A hospital spokesman says Truman has procedures in place to deal with the risks.
Thirty-three-year-old Rudy Perez Jr. of Sedalia is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 1 death of 78-year-old Robert Hill.
An arrest warrant said Perez attacked Hill twice. Employees initially separated the two men, but Perez was allowed to return to a common area where Hill was also sent after being treated for injuries.
On Thursday, Perez withdrew a request to transfer from the Boone County Jail to a state mental hospital in Fulton.
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Information from: Columbia Missourian, http://www.columbiamissourian.com