HOUSTON — A man at a mental healthcare facility has been charged with killing another man there, according to the Houston Police Department.
Erik Daniel Bonito, 32, was arrested on Wednesday, Feb. 21, and charged with murder. On Friday, his bond was set at $500,000.
The attack happened at the Houston Behavioral Healthcare Hospital on Gessner Road near Kempner Drive in west Houston. HPD patrol officers responded to the healthcare facility that afternoon.
Prosecutors said Bonito got into a fight and was moved to a new room in that facility. That's where he's accused of strangling and beating the 26-year-old victim.
According to charging documents, Bonito told police that he attacked the man for "talking under his breath.”
The victim was rushed to an area hospital but he didn't survive.
“It’s absolutely tragic when you know you’re sending your loved one to a mental healthcare facility to basically get them treatment and something happens like this," Harris Co. Assistant District Attorney Keegan Childers told us Friday. "This is absolutely not what you expect. You’re sending them there to get help, right, and the absolute worst consequence happens.”
Court records show that Bonito was previously arrested in January for assaulting a worker at a different hospital. He was released on the condition that he stay at a group home, according to court records.
