87-Year-Old MD Man Facing Murder Charges For Roommate's Death: Police

FREDERICK, MD — An 87-year-old Frederick man is facing a pair of murder charges after his 63-year-old roommate was found fatally shot in their home.

Frederick County Police said in a release that authorities were alerted to the incident Sunday after being informed that Irwin Joseph Dickstein told two other individuals — including a pastor — that he had shot his roommate, Michael Roy Bushnell, also of Frederick.

Charging documents reviewed by the Frederick News-Post detailed that the shooting unfolded after the two men disagreed about an electrical repair at their home on the unit block of Franklin Street.

According to the charging documents, Dickstein was driven by another man to the Frederick Christian Fellowship Church at 10142 Hansonville Road, where he told an associate pastor what had happened.

A deputy with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office responded to the church and later recovered a handgun that had been placed in the car of the man who had driven Dickstein to the church.

The Frederick Police Department was subsequently notified and, upon conducting a welfare check, found Bushnell dead inside the Franklin Street home.

Dickstein was taken into custody without incident and is now facing two charges: first- and second-degree murder.

Court records show he remains held without bond at the Frederick County Adult Detention Center. A competency hearing in the case is scheduled for Oct. 13.

An investigation into the fatal shooting is ongoing.