B.C. coroner releases report into care-home killing by former soldier

VERNON, B.C. – A British Columbia coroner’s investigation into the killing of a longtime care-home resident at the hands of his new roommate has made no recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents in the future.

The coroner service has released a report into the death of 85-year-old William May, who died of “blunt force trauma” three years ago in Vernon.

The investigation says his roommate, who’d moved in with May eight days earlier, had been a special forces soldier during the Second World War but that he hadn’t displayed any signs of aggression since arriving at the facility specializing in advanced dementia.

The report says two employees entered the pair’s room around 11 p.m. on Aug. 18, 2013, and found the agitated roommate talking about bunkers and referring to a nurse as “one of them.”

The roommate was charged with murder but the Crown found him not fit to stand trial.

A similar incident took place five years ago in a long-term care home in Winnipeg, when an 87-year-old man died after being pushed to the floor by a fellow patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.