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Murder charges against Okey Payne dropped after fatal assisted living center shooting

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Published 12:22 PM

By KCNC Staff

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    BOULDER COUNTY, Colorado (KCNC) — Prosecutors have dropped charges against Okey Payne, a man authorities say killed a maintenance worker at his assisted living center in Lafayette last year.

Doctors have ruled Payne incompetent and now say his delusions and several mental conditions are related to his age and an illness that cannot be reversed. Payne was 95 at the time of the February 2021 shooting.

The dismissal means Payne will spend the rest of his life in the secured facility of the state hospital.

Payne is accused of shooting Ricardo Medina-Rojas in the head under the belief that the victim and other employees at at Legacy Assisted Living were stealing from him. He also thought staff were drugging him.

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