HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The Department of Aging and Disability Services is investigating two recent attacks at nursing homes.
The agency licenses and regulates service providers for the aging and for those with intellectual and physical disabilities.
Deputies arrested Raul Rocha, 46, moments after investigators say he attacked his roommate and relative, Mario Flores, by hitting him with a dumb bell after the two got into a fight Monday night.
Rocha is charged with aggravated assault of a family member.
Flores was flown to the hospital in critical but stable condition from the Park Manor of Cypress Station nursing home in north Harris County.
Just two weeks ago, two men living in a northwest Houston nursing home were killed.
Cuillermo Correa, 56, faces murder charges in the deaths of 51-year-old Primitivo Lopez and 75-year-old Antonio Acosta.
Correa is accused of beating the two to death with the arm of his wheelchair.
Acosta's daughter said administrators refused to move Correa out of her father's room.
"He's still very violent," she said. "He's still very verbally abused. Can they please move him?"
"You certainly have someone who is going to have some significant health issues," said family law attorney Cindy Diggs.
Diggs told Local 2 that residents and patients need advocates, like a family member, checking on their safety.
"At the very least, those people have a right to be safe from physical attack," said Diggs. "They have a right to feel like they're not going to be physically harmed by other people there or by their caretakers."
Rocha is expected in court on Wednesday.