The 25-year-old suspect was arrested on March 14, the day of the attack. The woman died from her injuries on Monday, March 30.
TACOMA, Wash. — A 63-year-old woman has died after she was attacked at a psychiatric hospital in Tacoma just two weeks earlier, according to the Tacoma Police Department.
Pierce County prosecutors charged 25-year-old Elias Santos Salcedo in connection with the March 14 attack at Wellfound Behavioral Health on South 19th Street, where he was also a patient.
Salcedo was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder after prosecutors said he beat the 63-year-old woman inside the psychiatric hospital, KING 5 previously reported.
Because the woman died as a result of her injuries, his charges could be upgraded to murder.
According to charging documents, Tacoma police were called to Wellfound Behavioral Health just after 8 p.m. on March 14 for a report of an assault.
The caller said that a female patient had been attacked by another patient, was unconscious and was bleeding.
The victim, a 63-year-old woman, was treated by Tacoma Fire Department paramedics and taken to St. Joseph Hospital with life-threatening injuries. She died on Monday, March 30, according to Tacoma police.
According to investigators, the incident was captured on security cameras. Salcedo was pacing a hallway before the 63-year-old victim walked toward him, documents state.
Court documents say Salcedo “forcefully punched” her in the head and face, causing her to fall backward onto the floor and appear to lose consciousness. Investigators said he then clasped both hands together and repeatedly struck her in the face and head.
Police said staff and other patients tried to pull him away, but he returned and assaulted her again, then came back a third time before multiple staff members grabbed and subdued him.
Police also interviewed the victim’s roommate, who said the attack was “totally unprovoked” and described the victim as a nice person who mostly stayed in her room.
Tacoma police detectives and crime scene technicians are now investigating the incident as a homicide.