A 60-year-old man has tragically died after being mugged on Christmas Eve for a single measly dollar.
Early on Tuesday morning, December 24, Juan Fresnada and a male acquaintance, 29, were confronted by a group of muggers in New York City.
When the pair refused to give up their possessions, they were savagely attacked, leading Fresnada to be hospitalised. On Friday afternoon, December 27, he died as a result of his injuries.
Fresnada and the unnamed male were walking along Third Avenue in the Morrisania neighbourhood of the Bronx at around 1.30, having just left the local McDonald’s restaurant.
A friend of the pair, Tony, told NBC New York:
The guys just told them: ‘Give me the money, give me the money.’ He was like: ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
A statement from the New York Police Department – as per CBS New York – explained that a group of several unidentified individuals then approached the pair, demanding that they hand over their possessions.
Surveillance photos and videos – released by the police with hope that it’ll help them pinpoint the suspects quicker – show the horrific nature of what happened next.
Edited surveillance footage from the NYPD shows one man grabbing another man’s shirt and violently swinging him to the ground, before hitting him.
Further clips show two other men joining the initial attacker, with one of them going to grab a trash can as the beaten individual tries to get up – some reports claim the person holding the trash can to be the 29-year-old friend, in a bid to defend Fresnada.
The motive behind the attacks is said to be for money: however, the muggers took off with only one dollar. It is unclear whether the man on the other end of the videoed attacks is Fresnada or his unnamed acquaintance, who later refused medical attention.
While the other male was able to get away, Fresnada was left motionless on the sidewalk: as people and cars passed by, doing little to help him.
Fresnada was taken to hospital, where he was hooked up to a ventilator, reportedly suffering a fractured skull and bleeding from the brain. Unfortunately, he was pronounced dead later on Friday.
Tony added: ‘It’s just sad that someone would do someone so drastic to someone. For a dollar! It’s very sad.’
The police investigation is still ongoing, as officers continue to speak to people in the neighbourhood in their search for the assailants.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.