LIVINGSTON, Texas, June 9 -- A convicted killer attacked a volunteer chaplain on Texas Death Row on Friday, nearly severing the 78-year-old man's right arm with a razor blade, prison officials said.
William Paul Westbrook was rushed to the Polk County Hospital in Livingston in an attempt to save his arm, which was also broken in the attack about 11 a.m. CDT.
He was undergoing surgery late Friday.
Westbrook was attacked by 33-year-old Juan Salvez Soria, who is scheduled for execution July 26 for the murder of 17-year-old Allen E. Bolden, of Arlington, during a robbery in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Westbrook had placed his hand under the door of Soria's cell door when Soria pulled his arm inside and began chopping at it with the razor blade, prison spokesman Larry Todd said.
Several guards were nearby and they immediately sprayed Soria with a chemical agent to subdue him, Todd said. Soria has since been moved to another cell at the Terrell Prison Unit.
"This was a routine visit and we don't know why the inmate attacked the chaplain," he said.
An investigation was under way to determine how Soria obtained the razor blade.
Westbrook, who lives in Livingston, has been a chaplain on death row since 1997. There are about 17,000 volunteer chaplains who work in the Texas prison system, the second largest in the nation.
