My barber was beaten and then set on fire. wtf?

[jman3000]

I just saw on the news that my barber I've used pretty much from the age of 2 was brutally beaten and then set on fire while still alive. I had no idea he was homeless, but I have a feeling this was drug related because he had lost a LOT of weight in the past couple of years.

What the fuck man.


By Robert M. Crowe - Express-News
Police are investigating the death of a person whose body was found behind a West Side strip mall Saturday morning.

Firefighters found the body about 7 a.m. while responding to a fire at 3660 Culebra Road.

Police suspect foul play was involved.

[Vinnie_Johnson]

Wow that's fucked up.

[chode_regulator]

I just saw on the news that my barber I've used pretty much from the age of 2 was brutally beaten and then set on fire while still alive. I had no idea he was homeless, but I have a feeling this was drug related because he had lost a LOT of weight in the past couple of years.

What the fuck man.

ummm...bnot to be a dick...but how did you not know he was homeless?

[Vinnie_Johnson]

ummm...bnot to be a dick...but how did you not know he was homeless?

Not all homeless smell like shit and beg for change. I have had a few employees that I didn't know were homeless and they showed up to work every day.

[jman3000]

ummm...bnot to be a dick...but how did you not know he was homeless?

Because he still worked at the barber shop... or at least I thought he did. Now that I think about it he was usually just sweeping up hair. I figured he retired and was just killing time.

He'd always call me power ranger, and he still called me that even into my 20's.

[jman3000]

http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/local.aspx


The video is under "body found burned in building"

[Kori Ellis]

Wow, that's horrible.

[jman3000]

This fucking pisses me off. He was the nicest man you could imagine. I hope they catch the pieces of shit that did this.

[duncan228]

What a terrible thing to do to someone. I hope they find them too.

[S_A_Longhorn]

They found the two dumbfucks. Hope they get the same treatment when they get the death penalty.

Apparently no motive - saw him sleeping under a carport on their way home after a night of drinking.

[v2freak]

That is messed up. He was working hard in order to change his life and this shit happens?

[DarkReign]

They found the two dumbfucks. Hope they get the same treatment when they get the death penalty.

Apparently no motive - saw him sleeping under a carport on their way home after a night of drinking.

One must wonder about those who find pleasure in assaulting the homeless. Sadly, its a rampant practice. Like kicking a dog for them, I guess.

[florige]

I'm not sure the circumstances as to why someone would do this. But I wish we had laws over here that if you kill someone and torture them that way, the same thing should be done to you.

[I. Hustle]

I'm not sure the circumstances as to why someone would do this. But I wish we had laws over here that if you kill someone and torture them that way, the same thing should be done to you.

:toast

[v2freak]

I'm not sure the circumstances as to why someone would do this. But I wish we had laws over here that if you kill someone and torture them that way, the same thing should be done to you.

I know it's hard not to feel that way, but I wouldn't be comfortable inflicting that level of pain on anyone. I'd want it done to as few people as possible and while justice is necessary, I don't think it's right to sink to their level.

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

The two guys told police the other initiated the attack.

Names: Carlos Portillo, Juan Gutierrez.

[Bigzax]

juan gutierrez!

i know that bastard!

[Fermixalot]

juan gutierrez!

i know that bastard!

Who doesn't? I know like 13.

But what a horrible way to die. The two guys who did that should get a fast track to the needle.

[Ocotillo]

Stories like this come across the news so often I have to admit I am desensitized to them and one forgets that the victims are real. Your thread puts a personal face on a terrible tragedy and gives me pause.

I am sorry there is evil like this in the world and wonder what we could do to reduce it.

[Trainwreck2100]

The two guys told police the other initiated the attack.

Names: Carlos Portillo, Juan Gutierrez.


That's works until the whole fire business

[tlongII]

I would like to know how long jman has been getting his hair cut by homeless people?

[S_A_Longhorn]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/A_Homeless_mans_horror_story.html



About three years after he stopped cutting hair at a West Side barbershop, Johnny Pena seemed content to wander the streets — sleeping in alleyways, drinking a daily ration of beer and feeding a coterie of stray dogs that followed the 55-year-old virtually everywhere he went.

Among the scores of homeless in the area, Pena was perceived as friendly, harmless and even generous. Friends and relatives worried about him. But no one expected the brutal fate that befell a sleeping Pena early Saturday, when two young men walking home from a party happened upon him in a quiet alleyway.

“I'm going to go at him,” said one of the young men, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant.

Hours later, police found Pena burned so badly that only his legs, right forearm and face remained. He'd also been stabbed repeatedly and beaten in the head with enough force to bruise the brain — apparently with a metal pipe that investigators discovered near the body.

Police on Tuesday charged Juan Gutierrez, 18, and Carlos Portillo, 19, with murder in the slaying.

The young men, both of whom lived in the gritty neighborhood where Pena was killed, remained in Bexar County Jail late Tuesday.

Across the nation, homeless homicides are on the increase, according to Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless. Last year, Texas' eight homeless homicides ranked the state fifth in the country.

“The perpetrators are primarily young people,” Stoops said. “Some are crimes of opportunity. They do it because they know they can. The homeless won't fight back and most don't report it because the homeless don't trust police as much as they should.”

Officials don't believe either Gutierrez or Portillo knew Pena. Police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino said the killing could have been a spontaneous act.

“We still don't know if the motive was going to be robbery,” Trevino said.

Shortly after Pena was killed, police arrested Gutierrez in connection with a robbery a few blocks from the scene of the slaying.

On probation in connection with a charge of domestic violence, Gutierrez was carrying Pena's wallet and had blood on his shoes, according to the document.

Interviewed by police in Bexar County Jail, he waived his rights and told a chilling story.

Walking behind a strip mall after midnight, he and Portillo saw Pena sleeping facedown under a carport. Both young men started kicking Pena; Gutierrez told police he kicked the homeless man “at least 10 times in the face,” according to the affidavit.

One of the attackers pulled out a pocketknife and started stabbing Pena. Then came the blows with the metal pipe.

At one point, one of the assailants pulled loose change out of Pena's pocket and tossed a few coins to the other. Then one of the attackers poured some “liquid” on Pena, lit a piece of paper on fire and threw it on the victim, the document said.

Gutierrez told police he noticed Pena's wallet lying on the ground next to a beer, so he took it and left.

Pena's 16-year-old son Ricardo Guerra said the man's family members worried constantly for his safety, and they often tried to get him to live at home. Two weeks before Pena's death, Guerra gave his dad a Dallas Cowboys jacket and other warm clothes.

“We knew it was going to get cold, so we wanted to be sure he had something warm,” said Guerra, the youngest of Pena's five children. “My mother was always asking us to go out looking for him.”

The family's worst fears were realized Saturday.

“It hurts us to know that he passed away, but what hurts us the most to know how he passed away,” Guerra said. “I don't think anybody deserves that kind of death. He never did anything to anyone.”

Many Loma Park-area residents knew Pena as a friendly man who loved dogs. Teri Kilmer of the Loma Park Neighborhood Association said she often brought Pena hamburgers and biscuits.

“Instead of eating the whole thing, he'd share it with the dogs around him,” she said. “He was a very nice man. He was kind to everybody.”

Pena's wife and children often searched for him at various West Side haunts that included street corners, strip centers and alleyways. Each time, they'd encourage him to return home.

Sometimes he would comply — Pena even stopped drinking for three months while living with his daughter last year — but his addiction to alcohol and urge to roam would always draw him back to the streets, Guerra said.

“He was just a free spirit that loved being outside,” the son said. “It hurt me, and there's times I cried for my dad, but then I realized you can't stop someone from doing what they love.”

Guerra said his mother remained in love with Pena. She told her children she never would divorce him.

Pena worked at Veteran's Barber Shop for three decades, specializing in a $10 flat top. He dropped by the shop Friday and mopped the floors for a couple of bucks.

“We knew what he was going to do with it, so we just gave him a little,” said Cruz Salazar, one of the barbers. “He was a good guy, never bothered anybody.”

Pena quit his job after succumbing to a drinking problem and depression, Guerra said.

“There was a time when he would wake me up for school and get me dressed every day,” Guerra said. “I don't think he wanted to leave us, but I think he didn't have control over it.”

Services for Pena are scheduled for 10 a.m. today at Holy Family Catholic Church, 152 Florencia Ave.



Rest in Peace, Mr. Johnny Pena.

Burn in Hell Juan Gutierrez and Carlos Portillo.

[mcornelio]

This kind of thing is so fucked up. sometimes i think the death penalty is too harsh on criminals but then i see things like this.. those two fucks should be hanged by their balls until they die. miserable fucks... how the fuck does a human being even... fuck it. :bang