EDMONTON, Alberta, Canada – On July 30, police arrested a 34-year-old psychiatric patient just days before his release date on charges of killing his 57-year-old hospital roommate.
The two men shared a room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, a low-risk psychiatric ward in Edmonton. Both appeared to be sleeping when nurses entered the room early that morning, but minutes after they left staff heard a commotion. They returned to find both men injured.
The nurses immediately moved the patients to the emergency room, where doctors pronounced 57-year-old Dwayne Roger Roy dead. After he received treatment police arrested the surviving roommate, whose name has not been released.
High-security beds are available, but the two men were considered low-security risks. Neither had any history of violence toward patients or staff before the incident. All patients meet with a psychiatrist every weekday, and the subsequent assessments indicated that both men were in stable condition. Staff expected the 34-year-old suspect to be released this week.
The United Nurses of Alberta, which had voiced ongoing security concerns about the province’s psychiatric wards, issued a release after Roy’s death requesting that each ward have a special constable. However, the executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association was satisfied with security at Alexandra.
This is the first homicide at Royal Alexandra Hospital.
