Elderly man beaten to death after granddaughter's wedding

[edbermac]

Friends and family continue to mourn a Tempe man who was beaten to death in Virginia earlier this week after he attended his granddaughter's wedding, police said.

Three teenagers attacked George Baker III, 81, on his walk to a restaurant following the wedding ceremony Sunday night.

"I will miss the phone calls the most," son Gregg Baker said at a press conference at his father's home on Wednesday.

Witnesses who heard and saw the attack from a nearby restaurant told police that three male teenagers beat Baker until he lay unconscious and then fled.

Baker sustained broken ribs and significant head injuries, police said. He was taken to a local hospital but died Monday morning.

"There was no motive," Lynchburg (Va.) Police Department Captain Todd Swisher said, "This should have been a joyful occasion but it has been marred by this tragedy."

Police said there were a few other teens walking with the suspects at the time of the attack. One of them told police that the suspects were trying to impress a girl they were with.

Two of the suspects are 16-years-old and one is 13. They were arrested on suspicion of murder, police said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/08/20100908tempe-man-beaten-to-death-after-wedding-abrk.html

[emilyg]

1. Sad.

[Mz Pip]

2. Yeah, I was always impressed

when the guy I went out with kicked the shit out of someone in front of me. :sarcasm:

What an awful story. My heart goes out to the family. They will be living with this forever.

[WI_DEM]

12. especially if your 16 and the guy they beat up is 81. How impressive is that!?

[Warpy]

3. Great, one family loses a father and grandfather

and three more families lose sons because of some stupid macho idea that violence impresses females.

Catch a fucking clue, guys, it's a turnoff to any female worth having.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Warpy]

13. Too bad it wasn't a clue

Four lives are destroyed over NOTHING.

[DJ13]

14. !

:spank:
:spray:

[madmax]

4. So damn sad. No words. nt

[RKP5637]

5. I've always been neutral on guns, but I can certainly see why many people want to

be armed. There's an awful lot of weirdness about anymore.

[WinkyDink]

8. Three punks jump an 81-yr-old. I don't think a gun would've helped him then.

[RamboLiberal]

15. Who knows

But might have given him a better chance.

[Raster]

6. There are no words.

Police said there were a few other teens walking with the suspects at the time of the attack. One of them told police that the suspects were trying to impress a girl they were with.

Baker was a Christian man; his son said which was apparent by the bookmarked and clearly well-used Bible inscribed with his name which sat in his family room. His son said that Baker had previously spoken of looking forward to seeing his wife, who died of cancer six years ago.

He spoke of his father as "quick witted and mentally sharp."

Referring to a rocking chair and table filled with books as his father's "makeshift library." He said his father and sister would read novels and then switch with each other when they were finished.

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. really sad

[fascisthunter]

10. A Pizza Man Was Killed in Boston for Chump Change by Two Tennagers and...

one twenty year old.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-06/justice/massachusetts.pizza.delivery.death_1_pizza-delivery-man-boston-police-wcvb?_s=PM:CRIME

[WI_DEM]

11. what does that say about these people that to "impress" a girl you beat up an old man?

Glad they caught these bums.

[RamboLiberal]

16. What a shame - despicable what these kids did

Lynchburg, VA - The pastor for Vernon Jackson, one of the 16-year-olds charged in George Baker's murder, tells ABC-13 that last Sunday- the day Jackson is accused of murder- was the teenager's 16th birthday.

The pastor says she was even with Jackson earlier in the day. He watered the plants at her church. Annita Hogue met the Jackson family when Vernon was just four-years-old and describes him as being very active in the church.

http://www.wset.com/Global/story.asp?S=13122814

The warrants say police went to 16-year-old Vernon Jackson's home looking for bloody boots, after witnesses say he stomped Baker after he was down. They also name 16-year-old Kenneth Davis as the instigator of the whole thing.

"One of those individuals decided they were going to assault the next person they saw, and that person happened to be Mr. Baker," said Lynchburg Police Captain Todd Swisher.

In the affidavit, at least one witness claims they did it to impress the girls in their group. Detectives say this doesn't fit the mold of a typical crime.

"Really, it's difficult to get your hands around this and try to rationalize this type of behavior and there's no way to rationalize it," said Capt. Swisher.

http://www.wset.com/Global/story.asp?S=13118348

The victim's son Greg Baker says its been difficult. Last weekend he was celebrating his daughter's wedding in Lynchburg. Hours later, Baker's father George was in the hospital.

"For us to oddly get a call that my dad and my daughter's grandfather was critically injured was, I don't know how to describe it," says Greg Baker, who lives in Arizona.

He also recalled the haunting words George Baker said to a pastor after the Saturday's ceremony.

"He said if I were to die tonight, I'd die a happy man."

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-story-lynchburg-murder-090810,0,4686530.story


Baker with his granddaughter at her wedding Sunday

http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-story-lynchburg-murder-090810,0,4686530.story

[gratuitous]

17. Prime acolytes of the High Church

Two 16-year-olds and a 13-year-old. For the past eight or nine years, our nation has been involved in the occupation of two other countries, carrying out the mission that Might Makes Right, and demonstrating the tenets of our national religion, the High Church of Redemptive Violence. I'm not excusing what these young men did, but in this country, they internalized very well the lessons promulgated and taught by our society. They're alive, their victim is dead.

While this is a very sad incident, anyone who professes shock isn't paying very close attention.

[LeftinOH]

18. There's a 'follow-the-leader' mentality among some young people;

one of these kids made the decision to do this, and the others went right along with him. I didn't understand this mentality when I was a teenager -and I still don't.

[Blue_Tires]

19. shameful...

their parents must be proud...

[mitchum]

20. I imagine those cretins will also impress some bull jockers when they are locked up

oh well...

[cayanne]

21. how terrible

nt

[Starbucks Anarchist]

22. I know this isn't a popular opinion around here.

But I would have no problem if these lowlife scum were shot in the head.

[LostinVA]

23. See, I totally understand that opinion and emotion

Which is why I'm anti-DP. But I understand feeling that way.

:pals:

[zipplewrath]

24. Wait until he's in jail

And he sees what the other prisoners do to him to "impress their friends".