Kids who beat 76-year-old with walking stick are part of preteen crime ring, Texas cops say
A 76-year-old man was beaten with his own walking stick last week in southwest Houston’s Westbury neighborhood, the Harris County Constable’s office announced in a news conference.
Ray Johnson’s assailants pulled a gun on him, demanded money and left him on the ground, crying out for help with head wounds from being pistol whipped and struck with his walking stick while he was out for a walk, he said during the news conference.
What makes the crime even more startling is that police say it was carried out by a group of preteens. Three arrests have been made in Johnson’s beating, and two of the children arrested for the assault are 11 and 12 years old, Constable Ted Heap told reporters.
Police are seeking three more suspects in the case and believe the same group is responsible for at least nine other crimes dating back to last year, Heap said.
Their motive? Heap told reporters the kids commit crimes like the assault on Johnson “just for kicks,” according to KTRK.
“This is the attitude of some of the young juveniles that we have out there,” Heap told the station. “That ‘we are going to assault people, and we’re going to steal their goods, and we’re going to cause a serious bodily injury, ‘just for kicks.’”
Though the six youth, who have not been identified by police due to their age, are suspects in the nine other robberies and assaults in the area, but Heap said its possible they could be involved in as many as 26 unsolved crimes in the area since May 2017.
Soon after the group of boys fled the scene of Johnson’s beating, at least two of them were allegedly seen trying to siphon fuel from a maintenance truck, according to KIAH.
Police arrested an 11- and 12-year-old in connection with the two crimes on Sunday. A 14-year-old was arrested Monday, Heap announced on Facebook.
“It was later determined that they were going to use these gas cans to torch the vehicle they were in,” the Constable said during the news conference, according to KIAH.
As for Johnson, he’s still hopeful that the youngsters who left him bleeding on his sidewalk can turn their lives around.
“I prayed for those kids that night,” Johnson told KTRK. “There is hope for them. These kids just need a little guidance and a little love. There’s hope for them. I love them all.”