An assisted-living facility worker accused of fatally shooting an 87-year-old resident in his bed had been the subject of repeated concerns by colleagues — one of whom submitted a written complaint — that the Maryland facility ignored, according to allegations made in a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The litigation, brought by the 77-year-old partner of the victim, also alleged that Cogir Senior Living center in Potomac shielded the worker from scrutiny because his mother held a senior leadership post there. The facility also lacked properly working security systems, the complaint asserted.
“This senseless killing was entirely preventable,” attorneys for the partner, Linda Buttrick, wrote in their complaint.
A spokesperson at Cogir’s corporate office in Arizona declined to discuss the suit.
“We are still working closely with local authorities as they conduct their investigation,” the spokesperson said. “Out of respect for those involved, and to preserve the integrity of the investigation, we cannot share any additional details.”
The complaint specifically asserts that one of the concerned employees, a staff nurse, emailed facility leadership about Maurquise James 11 days before the fatal shooting of Robert Fuller, alleging that among other missteps, he had mishandled residents’ medications and was impaired on duty, according to the complaint. The lawsuit alleges that Cogir responded by firing the nurse.
“The Cogir defendants took zero corrective action relative to the warnings,” the lawsuit alleges. “They failed to perform even the bare minimum of investigations.”
The lawsuit seeks damages of at least $1.1 million. It alleges that James’s mother held “supervisory authority” over personnel matters involving her son.
“Multiple staff members have expressed fear of reporting Maurquise James concerns due to retaliation,” the nurse wrote in her complaint, according to the lawsuit. “Since then, Maurquise has been allowed to work while under the influence, has acted erratically, and has pre-poured medication — a violation for which another employee was fired.”
James’s mother could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuit marks the latest development in what was already a bizarre and tragic case. On Feb. 14, around 5 a.m., someone slipped into a third-floor Cogir apartment, entered Fuller’s bedroom, shot him in the head and slipped away. An attorney for James said he intends to plead not guilty.
Fuller and Buttrick suffered from Parkinson’s disease, according the litigation. They each had their own bedroom in the large unit.
As a medication technician, James regularly came into their apartment as part of his duties giving residents their medicine. The night before the fatal shooting, according to the litigation, James gave Buttrick her nightly oxycodone medication by, as usual, mixing it into applesauce and feeding it to her. He returned to the apartment and asked her whether the medicine had “kicked in yet,” which she had found odd, police said in court filings.
Buttrick, normally a light sleeper, did not hear the gunshot one room over, a fact the lawsuit attributes to James overmedicating her.
Apart from any alleged wrongdoing by James or Cogir, the lawsuit for the first time describes how Buttrick learned Fuller was dead.
“At approximately 7:30 a.m., Ms. Buttrick’s weekend caregiver arrived at the apartment and went to wake Mr. Fuller,” the litigation reads. “The caregiver screamed. Ms. Buttrick ran to the bedroom. Ms. Buttrick grabbed Mr. Fuller’s hand. Ms. Buttrick thought he was having a heart attack. And then she saw everything — the gunshot wound, the blood soaking his pillows and sheets.”
Detectives interviewed James early in their investigation but did not have clear evidence tying him to the crime for at least a week, according to their court filings. He was arrested Feb. 24, the same day he allegedly fired two rounds that barely missed a Maryland state trooper during a traffic stop. He is due in court again March 27.
A colorful and wealthy retiree, Fuller was known at the assisted-living facility as “the captain.” He named his apartment “Wit’s End,” and was known to end emails with the phrase “from my keyboard to God’s inbox” and complete phone calls with an exuberant “Onward!,” according to the lawsuit. He and Buttrick attended activities and played bingo together, according to the lawsuit.
Filed by Baltimore attorneys Michael Belsky, Catherine Dickinson and Andrew Siske, the litigation names as defendants the facility, Cogir of Potomac; its parent company, Cogir Senior Living USA, based in Scottsdale, Arizona; and James, who remains held on a charges of first-degree murder and other counts.
The suit alleges that in the week after the shooting, Cogir allowed James to continue his duties, which included returning to Buttrick’s apartment to give her medicine. “Ms. Buttrick lived in a state of constant fear,” the lawsuit asserts.
She has since moved back to Maine, according to her attorneys.
Mike Stark, an attorney for James in the criminal cases, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
“My client will plead not guilty and is in a fight for his freedom,” he said. “I’m not involved in any civil suits and unaware of this individual’s attempt to monetize a tragic death.”
Stark earlier questioned the strength of what police have described as a key piece of evidence: Surveillance video recorded on the Cogir of Potomac grounds, which prosecutors say showed James walking by in a mask and a wig.
“We have very good reason to believe that it is not my client,” Stark said.
He similarly questioned the accuracy of a police body-camera image in the trooper shooting, which state police officials say showed James’s face through a slightly opened car door. But that photo wasn’t clear, Stark said.
“The state has a high hill to climb to prove he did it beyond a reasonable doubt, and we have reason to believe in both cases it was not him,” Stark said.
But Assistant State’s Attorney Jodie Mount has described the case as strong.
“The defendant disguised himself and committed a preplanned, cold-blooded killing of a defenseless 87-year-old man lying in bed at an assisted-living facility,” Mount said during a court hearing, adding that James had planned the shooting for more than a month. Ten days later, during a traffic stop, James “tried to kill a Maryland state trooper,” Mount added.
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