The deaths of 12 people in a sweltering Florida nursing home after Hurricane Irma wiped out power to the building have been ruled as homicides, police say.
The Rehabilitation Center in Miami was evacuated on 13 September when three residents died after the home’s air conditioning stopped working.
Five more died later that day before another six passed away during the weeks after the evacuation, reports the Sun Sentinel.
Two of those are no longer part of the criminal investigation after their deaths were found to be unrelated to the heat.
“Who gets charged is part of the continuing investigation,” said Miranda Grossman, a spokesperson for the Hollywood Police Department. “We don’t have a timeline of when there would be charges at this point.”
A medical examiner confirmed that a dozen people aged between 57 and 99 had died of heat exposure.
Erika Navarro, granddaughter of victims Cecila Franco, 90, and Miguel Antonio Franco, 92, told the newspaper someone needed to be held accountable.
“Are they going to go to jail? Are they just going to get a free pass and just pay money, and nothing else happens?” she said. “To me, that’s more important, that people are held accountable and they actually go to jail.”
Geoffrey D Smith, a lawyer for the nursing home, said in a letter to the House Energy and Commerce Committee that staff had been closely monitoring patients for two days when the deaths started without warning.
He claimed the temperature inside the home never exceeded 27c, which would be within standards.
The Rehabilitation Center is currently shut down as state regulators attempt to have its license revoked. The home is fighting the move.
Homicide in US law encompasses everything from first degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
