FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — A retirement home employee is facing a murder charge after, police say, she pushed an 88-year-old during an argument.

On Sept. 24, Cynthia Williams Sellars, 54, allegedly pushed Lillie Johnson Cooper during what police called at "verbal altercation" at the Windsor Point Retirement Community in Fuquay-Varina, just south of Raleigh.

After the fall, Cooper went to the hospital with severe injuries and later died, according to Fuquay-Varina Police. 

Sellars was initially charged with one count of assault on individuals with a disability. 

After an investigation by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the police upgraded the charge to murder. Investigators arrested Sellars Tuesday morning.

Sellars was held without bond overnight and is expected to appear in Wake County Court Wednesday afternoon.