World War II veteran dies following parking lot beating

JBond

JBond

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Sad. What sort of POS beats an old man? The people that did this need to be shot. There is no rehabbing trash like this.
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Police in Spokane, Washington are searching for two young suspects after a World War II veteran was severely beaten in a parking lot Wednesday and later died from his injuries.

The Spokane Police Department says in a press release officers responded to reports of an assault Wednesday and found the victim in his car with serious head injuries. He later died Thursday in the hospital.

Authorities on Thursday released surveillance photos of the two suspects, who they describe as African-American males between the ages of 16 and 19.

Friends identified the victim as 88-year-old Delbert Belton, and say he was sitting outside a lodge for the Fraternal Order of the Eagles when he was attacked.

KXLY-TV reports that Belton served in the Army during World War II and was shot in the leg during the Battle for Okinawa.

"He was a tough old bird, I'll tell you that," Ted Denison, Belton's friend for 23 years told the Spokesman-Review.

The station says he went on to work for Kaiser Aluminum for 30 years. Friends say he was known as “Shorty,” and enjoyed playing pool and working on cars. His wife passed away several years ago.

"He was just such a nice person for God's sake. I don't think Shorty had a mean bone in his body," friend Betty told KXLY-TV.com.

"It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," Spokane Police Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths told the station.

Denison told KXLY-TV he cannot comprehend how someone could have carried out such an attack. "I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really," Denison said.

"He was always there for me when I needed him," Denison said. "We'd joke back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun."

"I don't understand how somebody could do this. I really don't," he told the station.

"Anybody that didn't get to know him missed out on a wonderful angel in their life," Lillian Duncan told the Spokesman-Review.

The Spokane Police Department is asking anyone with information to call their hotline at 456-2233.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/08/2...gers-in-washington-parking-lot/#ixzz2cnbJ7UOx
 
Bob Sacamano

Bob Sacamano

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How much force do you need to take what you want from someone in that condition? That's pretty cruel. He must have put up a great fight.
 
Hoofbite

Hoofbite

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This country needs to rethink capital punishment. They need to really make it punishment for the sake of reducing the burden on everyday people and cleaning up the scum of society. Start weeding these people out.

I'll all for quartering these fools. Same with those kids in Oklahoma. Well, the shooter anyway. I'd sentence the other two dickheads to years of hard labor but that's not allowed. Fuck em, they've shown that they are not fit to live like humans so lets treat them like the animals they are.

Hard labor and medieval torturing and death. I'm all for it.
 
M

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Suspect in WWII vet slay: We were buying crack from victim

One of the teens charged with beating to death a World War II veteran allegedly claimed he was buying crack cocaine from the 88-year-old and the transaction turned violent — but cops said there is no evidence to support that.

The allegation was denounced as bizarre by victim Delbert “Shorty” Belton’s family and even dismissed by the defense lawyer for the other teen accused in the Spokane, Wash., case, which has drawn national attention.

“That’s a bunch of crock,” daughter-in-law Barbara Belton told NBC News on Tuesday afternoon after suspect Kenan Adams-Kinard made his first court appearance to be charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

“He was a little senile, a little eccentric, but he was not into drugs,” she said, accusing the teen of concocting a self-serving story that would make the victim seem less sympathetic.

“Of course these kids are going to make excuses.”

Adams-Kinard and Demetruis Glenn, both 16, are accused of attacking Belton when he resisted a robbery attempt in the parking lot outside his Fraternal Order of Eagles lodge last Wednesday night. Both were charged as adults.

The teens, who have previous convictions for assault, were caught on security cameras in the area at the time of the slaying, but Glenn’s lawyer said there are no eyewitnesses or forensic evidence tying them to the crime.

An affidavit from prosecutors says that while he was on the run for four days, Adams-Kinard told two friends that the beating was the result of a drug deal gone bad. Police seized a letter signed with Adams-Kinard’s name that gave a similar account.

The letter said that after buying a “zip of crack cocaine from Shorty,” the teens “proceeded to sock him.”

“I took his wallet and another ounce of crack from his pockets,” the letter said, according to the court document. “He was unconscious so I made sure he was still breathing, and then I took off."

The letter was purportedly an explanation the teen was writing to his mother, police said.

Spokane police said they doubted the drug-buying story, with spokeswoman Monique Cotton saying in a statement: “We have no evidence to support that.”

Even Glenn’s lawyer, Christian Phelps, said he was highly skeptical of the claim, which was disclosed during Adams-Kinard’s court appearance on Tuesday.

“It doesn’t seem plausible to me,” Phelps said. “I wouldn’t put any stock in it at this point.”

Phelps also claimed "there are no eyewitnesses and no forensic evidence that links either of the kids to the crime."

Belton, who survived being shot in the Battle of Okinawa, was a widowed retiree who liked to dance and play pool at the lodge, according to friends.

His death has made headlines because of his age and war heroism. While some commentators have seized on the fact that the suspects were black and the victim was white, police have said race played no role.

"A lot of folks just want to throw these kids away and the key — or worse,” Phelps said. "I would urge people to wait for the facts to develop."



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Seems legit.
 
J

Jon88

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They're too stupid to come up with a better story.

Jail is the second best place for them. The first is the cemetary. Actually, they should be cremated. They don't deserve to take up any space. Or hell, maybe chopped up and fed to the Lions at the zoo. I don't give a shit. Let's make something useful out of them.
 
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