Homeless man dies after being set ablaze

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Homeless man dies after being set ablaze
Severe burns kill 'poor wretch' who was chased and doused with gasoline

Quote:

LOS ANGELES - A homeless man died after being doused with gasoline and set on fire on a street where he had lived for many years and was a familiar face to residents of Koreatown, police and local merchants said Friday.

Police were called to Third Street west of downtown Thursday evening and found the man, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A man in his 20s was seen throwing gasoline on the man, chasing him, throwing more on him and running from the scene, said Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz. Scorch marks stained a wall Friday where the man was burned.

The burning horrified even officers who routinely witness violent crimes, Diaz said.

"To murder somebody who's probably suffering from mental illness issues and not bothering anyone " just a poor wretch on the street " you've got to be a soulless nitwit to do something like this," he said.

I was homeless for a brief period as a teenager, and am appalled by the way many people in society view them. Assaults on the homeless like this really rub me the wrong way. And the teenage fad of harassing and attacking homeless people is something I reserve a special disgust for.

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@Robert Gentel,

I have read other examples of this happening, and I just have no words.

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@Robert Gentel,

Quote:

The burning horrified even officers who routinely witness violent crimes, Diaz said.

"To murder somebody who's probably suffering from mental illness issues and not bothering anyone " just a poor wretch on the street " you've got to be a soulless nitwit to do something like this," he said.

... or some sort of twisted creep, more like it! What a hero: targeting a harmless, vulnerable person in this way! Just disgusting.

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@dlowan,

I thought I read somewhere that u have professional experience
as a psychologist; if that is accurate,
do u have any tentative diagnostic suspicions qua the perpetrator ?

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@OmSigDAVID,

Seems pretty plain that he's pathological

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@Robert Gentel,

Neighbors recall slain homeless man as kind, thoughtful and friendly

Quote:

TRIBUTE: Danette Kuoch, owner of California Donut, lights a candle at the site where "John" was killed. She said she knew him for four years and often gave him free coffee and doughnuts.

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@Robert Gentel,

I'd been following this - but last I looked I thought there was more than one possible perp. You posted the thread since I read about it, though.

Here's the earlier account -

Another with more detail, and more about attacks on the homeless in the LA area

Very enraging/heart breaking.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Neighbors recall slain homeless man as kind, thoughtful and friendly

Quote:

TRIBUTE: Danette Kuoch, owner of California Donut, lights a candle at the site where "John" was killed. She said she knew him for four years and often gave him free coffee and doughnuts.

At least he's being honoured and remembered.

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Somehow, I doubt that woud have happened to him,
IF he had the means to deter a predatory emergency.

Criminals tend to be cowardly,
preferring to avoid exposure to personal danger,
favoring depredations upon the weak, feeble, or helpless.

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

I agree. Let's arm all the homeless people throughout the country.

I'd say that 'spare change' would become ubiquitous.

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"...you've got to be a soulless nitwit to do something like this."

Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz

I don't know if 'nitwit' means something else in the US - but where i come from the term is usually used affectionately on children who spill a drop of tea or fall over a football.

Sick and deranged, psychopathic, unhinged, or plain 'cruel' would have been better.

Poor bloke - just minding his own business

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@JTT,

Quote:

I agree. Let's arm all the homeless people throughout the country.

I take that as a good joke !
I enjoyed that.
What I had in mind, is that anyone with security concerns
is wise to attend to them (black markets abound).

If u don 't have a sword,
u better buy one -- Jesus (Luke 22:36)
or an extrapolation thereof

1 Reply

@OmSigDAVID,

Dave, if the man woulda hadda gun, he woulda sold it to stay alive....

(idiot setting him on fire be flippin' damned)

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I was THINKING that . . .,
but out of respect for the decedent . . .

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Homeless man dies after being set ablaze

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