NEW YORK – A 60-year-old New York City mugging victim died in a hospital Friday, three days after several unidentified suspects brutally beat him, demanding money while he walked down a Bronx street early Christmas Eve morning, police said Saturday.
Six muggers punched, kicked and stomped on Juan Fresnada as he tried to keep his partner, Byron Caceres, 29, safe from the attackers who robbed him of $1, ABC News reported.
“My husband tried to defend me,” Caceres told The New York Post. “The guy had his fist ready like he was ready to attack me. My husband said, ‘Don’t you get close to him.’”
Caceres said Fresnada told him to run away.
“They were beating him for 10 or 15 minutes,” he said. “I went back and found him on the floor. He was breathing heavily and bleeding from his head.”
The beating was caught on surveillance video but no suspects have been arrested, ABC reported.
“He takes care of me,” Caceres said. “He’s very calm and I’m the one who is stressed all the time.”
Caceres told The Daily News he didn’t think the attack was a hate crime. Police also confirmed the motive for the attack appears to be robbery, and the suspects remain at large.
