Three teenagers have been arrested for allegedly beating an Ohio father of three to death in a horrifying “random act of violence” at a grocery store.
Columbus police say the attack occurred at 7:00 p.m. on December 6, when three young men got into an altercation with Donnie Smith, 53, at a Kroger, reported ABC6.
Store security asked the suspects to leave, but law enforcement said the fight continued outside.
Court documents obtained by the outlet say Smith was “unconscious and bleeding from the head due to the beating” and that the group of teens were “laughing and enjoying themselves” while assaulting him.
The victim was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, where he died two weeks later.
The suspects fled the scene immediately after the assault, but police got on their trail and soon arrested 18-year-old Dionta Hughes, 19-year-old Jamarion Evans-Bennett, and 17-year-old Jayden Agee on murder charges, reports the New York Post.
Smith was shopping with friends at the time of the attack, and one of them told ABC6 that the thugs were “trying to pick on whoever they could.”
A witness to the brutal beating told the outlet that Smith was ambushed by the group after he exited the Kroger.
He was found severely injured shortly after by a store employee.
“Donnie was an amazing person,” said Nicole Evans, describing her partner of 20 years, who was also the father of her 15-year-old son and six-year-old daughter. “He was a great father, he loved his kids, they were his world.”
“They just grabbed him and beat him to death,” said Evans. “It was a random act of violence.”
Smith’s murder also left his other child fatherless.
“[It’s] sickening,” Evans said. “I don’t know how anyone could do that to a human being.”
Smith was a painter and worked in the construction field.
Evans has launched an online fundraising page to help the family with funeral expenses as Smith died without insurance.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I want him to have a proper burial for his children.”