Residents and staff at 110-bed Pinelake Health and Rehab in Carthage, NC, have been struggling to recover after a gunman walked into the nursing home and killed seven residents and a certified nursing assistant on March 29.
The suspect, Robert Stewart, 45, was charged with eight counts of first-degree murder.
“I’d love to tell you that everything’s all fixed and good, but it’s not,” said Craig Souza, president of the North Carolina Health Care Facilities Association, the state’s nursing home association. “It’s going to be a long healing process.”
The residents killed ranged from 78 to 98 years old. Jerry Avant Jr., a CNA, was 39. Police officer Justin Garner stopped the rampage by shooting Stewart in the chest.
Stewart claimed he took “nerve pills” and didn’t remember the shooting, a search warrant said. His estranged wife Wanda Luck works at the facility. She was unharmed during the ordeal.
From the May 01, 2009 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
