Ohio law enforcement authorities announced the arrest of three teenagers involved in the brutal beating of a father of three to death.
Police officers from Columbus said that the brutal incident occurred at around 7:00 p.m. on Dec. 6, when the three suspects allegedly engaged the victim. He was identified as 53-year-old Donnie Smith, who was inside a Kroger grocery store then.
Brutal Ohio Beating
The assailants were then asked to leave by security after they got into an altercation with patrons inside the establishment. Law enforcement personnel said that the fight then continued outside.
Smith was later taken to a hospital in critical condition due to injuries he sustained from the suspects' attack. One of the friends who was with the victim at the time of the incident said that the group was "trying to pick on whoever they could."
Charging documents in the case revealed that Smith was supposedly "unconscious and bleeding from the head due to the beating." They added that the group of suspects was "laughing and enjoying themselves" while assaulting Smith, as per the New York Post.
Two weeks after the assault, some reports noted that Smith had lost his life due to the severity of his injuries. Law enforcement said that after the beating, the suspects left the scene inside a red vehicle.
Police also did not say how homicide detectives got on their trial but they did say that they arrested several suspects. These are 18-year-old Dionta Hughes, 19-year-old Jamarion Evans-Bennett, and 17-year-old Jayden Agee on murder charges.
Authorities have released photographs of Evans-Bennett and Hughes but not of Agee because he is a minor. Officials are still investigating the case and urge anyone with information to contact the Columbus police.
An affidavit that the Columbus Dispatch saw detailed how police officers reviewed security footage from the incident where the suspects followed the victim as he left the Kroger grocery store, according to the Daily Mail.
Three Suspects Arrested
Law enforcement personnel said that the suspects stomped, kicked, and punched Smith until he was left unconscious and bleeding from the head. They added that the assailants only stopped beating Smith after a witness with a firearm intervened and told them to stop doing what they were doing.
Hughes and Evans-Bennett are currently held in the Franklin County jail on a $1 million bond. The third suspect is in the county detention center while a decision is made over whether or not to charge him as an adult in the case.
Smith's wife, Nicole Evans, spoke of her husband of two decades and described him as "an amazing person." The couple shared a 15-year-old son and a six-year-old daughter. Evans noted that the victim was a great father who loved his kids.
The Ohio case is similar to another incident where five teens have been charged in the savage mob beating at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Video footage of the attack showed one teenager being attacked by a half-dozen students who were seen kicking and punching him, said the New York Post.