Marcus Williams Phoenix Arizona man arrested in random beating death of 74 year old Filipino man, Juanito Falcon as he walked along street. Race crime?
Arizona authorities have arrested a suspect on suspicion of murder in connection with last month’s beating death of an elderly man as he walked along a Phoenix neighborhood.
Juanito Falcon, 74, was walking along 17th Avenue and Bethany Home Roadon on the morning of Feb. 16 when he was allegedly hit in the face by Marcus Williams, 41, ‘for no apparent reason,’ court documents said, according to FOX 10.
Falcon fell and hit his head on the pavement. He reportedly suffered a fractured skull and brain bleeding and died two days later in a hospital.
The suspect ran from the scene but Falcon managed to describe the suspect’s car and part of the license plate number to police before he ultimately died, the Arizona Republic reported.
Williams, was arrested Wednesday and booked into jail on a $500,000 bond.
Was beating race motivated?
‘Detectives have been unable to uncover a motive for this attack,’ police said, according to FOX 10.
No one should have to go through what her father suffered, Malou Acunin, Falcon’s daughter, said in a statement.
‘I have a lot of questions,’ she said of the attack. ‘I want this incident to be a cause of awareness to everybody. I don’t want the same incidence of violence and crime to happen to anybody — especially to the elderly. My father was just doing his morning walk. He was a good man and loved by many. He could have lived longer with his family if this didn’t happen.’
Falcon’s death came amid an uptick in anti-Asian crimes across the country but it was unclear if the assault was race-based, police said. Falcon was of Filipino descent.
‘We don’t know why this occurred, which is what makes it even more tragic,’ said Ann Justus of the Phoenix Police Department, according to FOX 10. ‘Sometimes we just don’t ever find out the why.’
Falcon’s family has established a GoFundMe account to help pay for funeral expenses.
