According to the police, a guy from Pennsylvania was detained after he allegedly attempted to kill his elderly father, who was a hospital patient.
On Sunday evening, 107 miles west of Philadelphia, at Penn State Holy Spirit Hospital in Camp Hill, reports of an attack were brought to the attention of East Pennsboro Police Department (EPPD) officers.
According to an affidavit obtained by ABC station WHTM, Wellsville resident John Stoll Jr. allegedly attempted to kill his 92-year-old father with a blanket while the latter was receiving medical attention.
In an EPPD statement on February 28, a police spokesperson stated: “According to the investigation, the suspect made an attempt to kill the victim inside a hospital room.” When a coworker saw what was happening, they intervened to stop the victim from being abused.
Still Jr., who was reportedly discovered in his pickup outside the hospital by police, initially denied trying to harm his father.
The network claims that after more questioning, Stoll Jr. “confessed he was trying to kill his father.”
A few miles south of Camp Hill in Carlisle, the Cumberland County Jail is where Stoll Jr. was eventually detained and transported for arraignment. His bond has been set at $250,000.
A preliminary hearing has been set up after he was charged with attempted homicide, aggravated assault, and strangling.
Authorities did not say whether they were looking into a potential motive for the attempted murder or whether one was immediately obvious.
According to Ciccarelli Law Offices, a Pennsylvania law firm, “When someone attempts to kill someone else after intending to do so and failing to do so, it is considered to have been attempted murder. In other terms, an effort to kill someone is called an attempted murder.”
Yet, it continues, “there must be both action and intention—you must have the purpose to take the life of another person and you must take direct action to do so” for a person to be charged with attempted murder.
According to the legal business, if there is no major bodily injury sustained during the attempted murder, the penalties are the same as those for aggravated assault, which carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in jail.
The maximum punishment for an attempted murder is 40 years in jail if there is substantial bodily harm.