A 94-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder for shooting inside an assisted living facility.Paramedics inside the Mary Agnes Manor were attempting to take resident John Tenant to ECMC for a psychiatric evaluation when he fired a shot at a worker Wednesday morning. The bullet missed the intended victim and struck a wall.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn said charging a 94-year-old man with attempted murder instead of attempted assault isn’t overkill in this scenario.
“This poor worker who was working the facility who was just doing his job… and clearly he was allegedly shot right at,” said Flynn. “It doesn’t give me any pleasure charging a (94)-year-old man with attempted murder. I’m not going to go around saying that’s great. Let’s go get him and lock a (94)-year-old man up.”
Tenant faces a maximum of 25 years in prison if convicted as charged. He is scheduled for a felony hearing on July 31.
Flynn said the next step is figuring out how Tenant obtained the gun.
“How did he get a weapon into the facility there? Did he have a valid permit? Did he purchase the gun illegally? All those matters are now going to be investigated. I can obviously add on more charges if in fact it goes to a grand jury,” he said.
No injuries were reported. Flynn said the workers involved did a great job handling the situation.
“A gun shot goes off in that setting it’s loud. It was obviously a chaotic situation. Everyone kept their cool and they were able to subdue him,” he said. “It could have been a lot worse, so I want to thank them.”
