Authorities announced Saturday that they have arrested a man suspected of killing his roommate at a Ventura County nursing home.
Thousand Oaks Police responded to a call regarding an agitated resident at a long-term care facility on Warwick Avenue at 4:40 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 1. VC Star reported that the facility will be called Silverado Memory Care.
The caller stated that the resident may have been injured by breaking a window and was also preventing treatment center staff from gaining access.
Officers arrived and detained the man in a common area of the nursing home. The resident was identified as Thomas Buckley, 58, of Thousand Oaks.
While Buckley was in custody, Silverado staff went to check on his roommate, Michael Patterson, 72, who also lives in Thousand Oaks.
They found Mr. Patterson in the room assigned to him and Mr. Buckley and found him seriously injured in the alleged assault. The police report does not provide further details about Patterson’s injuries or where he was injured.
First responders were called to the scene and ultimately pronounced the roommate dead.
Investigators later arrived and found that Mr. Buckley had assaulted a facility employee, causing minor injuries, before law enforcement arrived.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said the incident is currently being investigated as a homicide and an autopsy is being performed to determine the official cause and manner of death.
Officers arrested and charged Buckley with murder, assault with a deadly weapon and criminal damage to property. He is being held on $2 million bail pending his arraignment, scheduled for Nov. 5 in Ventura.
Because this is an ongoing homicide investigation, detectives are asking anyone with information regarding this case to contact Detective Gerardo Cruz at 805-384-4726 or Detective Erik Hernandez at 805-384-4729. We encourage you to contact us.
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