Police say nursing home resident killed 2 with arm of wheelchair

HPD homicide investigators are trying to figure out what led to the death of two people at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lexington Nursing and Rehabilitation, 1737 North Loop near Ella. HPD homicide investigators are trying to figure out what led to the death of two people at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at Lexington Nursing and Rehabilitation, 1737 North Loop near Ella. Photo: Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle Photo: Cody Duty / Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Police say nursing home resident killed 2 with arm of wheelchair 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

Antonio Acosta had been scared of Guillermo Correa, his roommate at a northwest Houston nursing home, since soon after they met.

The 77-year-old man pleaded with his daughter - as recently as Tuesday - to get Correa out of the room at Lexington Place Nursing & Rehabilitation the two shared with two others. Correa frequently made aggressive threats, bullied his roommates and appeared mentally unstable, Acosta's family members said.

"Mi hija, is there any way we can please move this person out of the room," Irma Chavez said her father asked her Tuesday.

That night, her father and another roommate were dead - killed, police said, when Correa beat them with a wheelchair armrest.

Acosta and 51-year-old Primitivo Lopez were slain. Correa, 56, who is charged with capital murder, had argued with the two before attacking them, police said. Nursing home employees told police that Correa and the two did not get along.

Officials from Lexington Place declined repeated requests for comment. Officials from Pinnacle Health Facilities XV LP, which owns Lexington Place, said in a statement that they are cooperating with police in the investigation and could not comment on the incident.

State officials, meanwhile, have begun investigating the facility. Cecilia Cavuto, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services, said the agency will check whether the facility was adequately staffed, in compliance with state and federal regulations, and had appropriate training and procedures in place to protect residents, among other criteria.

According to Cavuto, federal and state regulation states that a nursing facility "must protect all residents from all possible abuse from any person."

The agency evaluated the facility in February and recorded 17 deficiencies of federal standards and 21 violations of state standards. Deficiencies ranged from not giving residents proper treatment to prevent new bedsores or heal existing bedsores to failing to properly store and label drugs.

Last year, the agency recorded seven substantiated complaints - those that inspectors found valid - against Lexington Place. The average across the state was one, according to the agency's website.

This year, the agency has recorded two such complaints against Lexington Place.

Depending on the results of the agency's investigation into the deaths, the 200-bed facility could be fined, closed or lose its Medicaid and Medicare certification, Cavuto said.

"We might go into a nursing home to investigate an abuse allegation and find they were out of compliance with several regulations," she said. "And we could go in and find out a facility was in compliance with everything, and yet something bad still happened."

Chavez said that she had complained at least twice to nursing home staff about Correa, but nothing was done.

Chavez said staffers told her, "Well, if you don't like it you're welcome to take him somewhere else."

On Tuesday she tried to encourage her father, a bespectacled professional mariachi player who had performed at Pico's Mex-Mex until retiring.

"Wait just a little longer," she said, reminding him that after the two years he had spent recuperating from a stroke, he would soon be able to return home.

"He told me that 'If they keep me here with this man, the only way I'm going to leave is feet first,' " she said Wednesday.

Police arrived at the facility at 1737 North Loop near Ella about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday and found Acosta and Lopez dead. Officers said Correa attacked the two with the armrest from the wheelchair he used.

On Wednesday morning, family members said they were still trying to understand what had happened and grieving the bizarre slayings.

Alberto Lopez, one of Primitivo Lopez's brothers, and his sister, Magdalena Perez, said the 51-year-old man had been in long-term care homes for many years. One of 13 children, Lopez had suffered from epilepsy from an early age, requiring care in long-term care facilities, and drugs he'd received exacerbated the condition, giving him symptoms similar to Parkinson's, said Perez.

They visited Primitivo Lopez, who had lived at the nursing home for more than six years, frequently and on holidays.

"He was tranquil, calm," said Agustin Lopez, Primitivo Lopez's 60-year-old brother. "He never had problems with anyone."

Chronicle reporter Dale Lezon contributed.