Man who killed 4 sent to mental institution
A doctor testifies that Jesse James Warren refuses to take his medication.
‘However, we take some solace in the fact that Mr. Warren will be locked up in a prison hospital and not able to inflict these kinds of harms on anyone else.’
KENNESAW — A man accused of killing four people and wounding a Rome man when he opened fire at a Kennesaw Penske truck leasing facility in 2010 has been involuntarily committed to a prison psychiatric hospital, according to the Cobb County District Attorney’s office.
Jesse James Warren, now 67, of Temple, allegedly opened fire with a 9mm handgun on Jan. 12, 2010, killing Penske employees Van Springer, Jaider Marulanda and Roberto Gonzalez. A fourth man, Zachariah Werner, died of his injuries in July 2013. Another man, Joshua Holbrook of Rome, survived injuries sustained in the attack.
Warren was arrested shortly after the attack. Police found two firearms on him and more than 120 others at his residence, according to a release from the DA’s office.
A doctor testified that Warren was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2005 and refuses to take medication.
According to the doctor’s testimony, Warren believes he invented Wi-Fi for the military, was paid $500 million for it and that Penske stole much of that money. The DA’s office said his mental illness and refusal to take his medicine causes him to perceive threats where none exist and that he could react violently to these perceived dangers.
In 2014, the court ordered Warren to be forcibly medicated, but the Georgia Supreme Court overturned the decision in 2015.
Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark signed the order committing
Chief Assistant DA Jesse Evans Warren to a psychiatric hospital indefinitely on Tuesday.
Chief Assistant DA Jesse Evans said prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty and acknowledged that this is not the outcome he would have liked.
“However, we take some solace in the fact that Mr. Warren will be locked up in a prison hospital and not able to inflict these kinds of harms on anyone else,” Evans told the court.