BROOKLYN — An ex-con beat a fellow patient at a Brooklyn Hospital psychiatric facility, who went on to die four days later, police said.
Ex-con Larry Hammond, 65, beat a 77-year-old patient inside the Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center at 585 Schenectady Ave., near Rutland Road, about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, NYPD officials said.
The victim suffered injuries to his head in the assault and was pronounced dead Thursday, police said.
The Medical Examiner will determine the victim's cause of death, officials said.
It wasn't immediately clear what sparked the fight.
"A sad story," NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. "Both the perpetrator and the victim were suffering from dementia."
"It was kind of from behind he punched him," he added. "There was no argument that precipitated the assault."
Hammond has been arrested nine times since 1965 and spent several stints behind bars, mostly on robbery and assault charges, police said. He was arrested at the scene on charges of assault but had not been arraigned as of Friday morning, records show.
"The charges might be upgraded," Boyce said. "We haven't finished the autopsy yet."
He was convicted of robbery in 1972, 1980, 1981, 1992 and 1996, and spent between days and several years behind bars in each case, prison records show.
He was on parole for his last robbery conviction until 1998, records show.
Information on Hammond's lawyer was not immediately available.
