(Photo : Go Nakamura/Getty Images) A medical staff member Tanna Ingraham opens window blind as her patient requests to see outside of the room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) on Christmas Day at the United Memorial Medical Center on December 25, 2020 in Houston, Texas

A 37-year-old COVID-19 patient in a California hospital bludgeoned his 82-year-old Hispanic roommate, who was also being treated for the disease.

The killing happened at a hospital north of Los Angeles, California. According to the New York Times, the patients shared a two-person room at Antelope Valley Hospital in Lancaster, California, when the assault happened almost a week before Christmas.

BBC reported that the younger COVID-19 patient allegedly used an oxygen tank to kill the older patient. The assailant was identified as Jesse Martinez.

The department said the attack occurred when the older Catholic COVID-19 patient began to pray, angering his roommate. The victim died the following day and has not yet been publicly identified.

Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris told the Los Angeles Times that he was "shocked and saddened" by the news. 

Martinez Suspected With Hate Crime

Martinez has been arrested on suspicion of a religion-related hate crime murder. He will also be charged for elder abuse, authorities said.

He is set to appear in court on Monday with a bail set at $1 million, the USA Today reported. It was still unclear if he already had a lawyer. 

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The two men did not know each other, according to the authorities. A spokesperson for the hospital said they would not comment on the ongoing criminal investigation.

Not The First Hospital Killing

It was not the first time a patient was killed in a hospital during the pandemic. Hospitals became overcrowded and understaffed amid the pandemic, fueling the fear and anxiety that patients face.

In April, an 86-year-old woman died at Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn. She was shoved by another patient for breaking the safety guidelines.

The older patient then became disoriented and accidentally grabbed the other patient's IV stand for balance.

California Struggles to Contain COVID-19 Infections

California hospitals struggled to stay afloat as one million new infections were recorded in just six weeks. Since the pandemic began, a million cases were recorded in the state.

It resulted in staff shortages, forcing the state to put out an appeal for additional medical workers from Taiwan and Australia, said BBC. On top of that, rooms for patients were also causing anxiety. 

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State's health secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Monday that entire areas might run out of room even in supplemental treatment centers as early as next week.

California is the first state to surpass two million infections, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Los Angeles, in particular, became a hotbed for infections as over 525,000 cases were recorded in the past two weeks.

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health reported 145 deaths from COVID-19, the county's highest record since the pandemic began.

A stay-at-home order was announced in California, but it appeared as if only a few people were actually meeting this order.

A representative survey from the University of Southern California's Center for Social and Economic Research found that 30 percent of Californians were not following the stay-at-home order.