Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
85-Year-Old Brutally Beaten Near Downtown Whole Foods Dies
An elderly man who was brutally beaten by a homeless man in downtown over a week ago has died.
Dong Yul Lee, 85, died Monday morning at 6 a.m. from his injuries in the attack on the afternoon of April 2nd near 7th and Olive, according to NBC Los Angeles.
LaFawn Parker, 46, is accused of punching Lee, kicking him and then stomping on his head in an apparently unprovoked attack. Waltay Simmons, a security guard across the street at Whole Foods, interrupted the beating by tackling and pepper-spraying Parker, then holding him until police arrived. Gruesome photos and video from the scene show Lee lying in a pool of his own blood. Parker is facing a murder charge now that Lee has died, authorities told City News Service.
Lee was trying to get some fresh air when Parker began attacking him, authorities say. They suspect that Parker is mentally ill.
Support for LAist comes from
Kirk Gaw told CBS Los Angeles that he was grocery shopping when he witnessed the attack. He said, "[The suspect] chased the man out of the restaurant and then raced toward the senior citizen—the victim—and knocked him over and started stomping on his head. He was yelling that, 'Koreans are raping me.'"
Los Angeles' nearby Skid Row has been called an "outdoor asylum without walls." The city has pledged $100 million to eradicate homelessness but a city report says we'd need closer to $2 billion.
"A guy without his medicine and a victim who was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Simmons previously told NBC Los Angeles. "I think both of them were victims, really."
Gaw says his neighbor will be missed, "He was a neighborhood fixture who liked to stand in front of his apartment building and enjoy his neighborhood and the progress here and the historic core."
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist