Western State Hospital patient arrested on suspicion of murder in death of roommate

A long-term patient at Western State Hospital in Lakewood has been arrested on suspicion of killing his 69-year-old roommate at the state psychiatric hospital, according to police.

Lakewood Police Department officers were called to the hospital at about 7:15 p.m. Friday after crews with West Pierce Fire & Rescue responded for a report of an unresponsive patient, police spokesperson Lt. Chris Lawler said in a Tuesday email to The News Tribune. Lawler said fire crews requested a police response after noticing the death looked suspicious.

“We responded and noticed the victim patient had a lot of trauma, indicating not a natural or expected death,” Lawler wrote.

Police said detectives investigated and developed probable cause to arrest the victim’s roommate, a 51-year-old man, on suspicion of second-degree murder. Lawler said the suspect was booked into Pierce County Jail, and detectives are continuing to investigate.

The victim has not yet been publicly identified. A spokesperson for the Department of Social and Health Services, Tyler Hemstreet, said the victim had been a patient at the hospital since 1989. He said the man was sent there after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity on a first-degree murder charge. The victim’s roommate had been at the hospital since 2014 on a first-degree assault charge.

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Both men were housed in one of four wings of the hospital reserved for patients found not guilty of a criminal charge by reason of insanity, Hemstreet said. He said the hospital has about 120 patients who are there under the same circumstances. According to the DSHS website, the facility is one of two state-owned psychiatric hospitals in Washington, and WSH has more than 800 beds and 2,500 employees.

“We’re offering support to our staff and other patients throughout the hospital who have been affected by this sad and tragic incident,” Hemstreet said. “Our thoughts are with the victim and his family during this difficult time.”

The death occurred in a 15-minute window between when hospital staff makes rounds, Hemstreet said. There were 29 other patients in that wing of the hospital, and the men lived in a two-bed room.