Thread: 89 year old WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies

WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies


http://www.kxly.com/news/spokane-new...z/-/index.html


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WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, dies

Author: Ian Cull, KXLY4 Multimedia Journalist, ianc@kxly.com
Rob Kauder, Internet Content Manager, robk@kxly.com
Published On: Aug 22 2013 07:53:50 AM PDT Updated On: Aug 22 2013 05:37:11 PM PDT




SPOKANE, Wash. - WWII veteran Delbert Belton survived being wounded in action during the Battle of Okinawa only to be beaten and left for dead by two teens at the Eagles Lodge in Spokane on Wednesday evening.
Related Content

• Photos of homicide suspects

Belton, 89, died from the injuries he suffered in the beating Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

Witnesses say Belton was in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge at 6410 N. Lidgerwood, adjacent to the Eagles Ice-A-Rena, around 8 p.m. Wednesday when the two male suspects attacked him as he was about to head inside to play pool.

Police responded with K-9s to track the suspects' scent but were not able to locate them.

"It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," Spokane Police Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths said.

Belton died from his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

"Shorty," as he was known by his friends at the Eagles Lodge, served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during WWII and was shot in the leg during the Battle of Okinawa. He went on to work at Kaiser Aluminum at the company's Trentwood plant for more than 30 years. Belton's wife passed away several years ago.

He loved playing pool, even though he claimed he was no good at it and had been a member of the Eagles Lodge for the last four months. In addition to playing pool he loved working on cars.

Shorty was Ted Denison's best friend of 23 years; the two played pool occasionally and worked on cars daily.

"He was always there for me when I needed him," Denison said. "We'd joke back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun."
He was the kind of nice old man who'd become your friend in minutes.

"Probably every time I come into town, he'd have a project for me to do," Denison said. "I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really."
Now, with the suspects still at large and the Spokane Police Department working to track them down, Shorty's friends are hoping for justice.
"I don't understand how somebody could do this. I really don't," Denison said.

Spokane police are looking for two male suspects in the attack. They said the suspects are African Americans between 16 and 19 years old. One suspect was described as heavy set and wearing all black clothing. The other was described as being about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds. There was no description of what clothing the second suspect was wearing other than a silk do-rag.

Police investigating the deadly attack on Belton have also obtained surveillance footage from the scene. Click this link to see still images of the two suspects in the attack.

When is the media going to be honest? Here are some more "TEENS".

Cops arrest teen in murder of South Dade security guard
By DAVID OVALLE The Miami Herald
Monday, 08.19.13
Quintin Vicks has been arrested and charged in the ambush murder of a South Dade security guard. Miami-Dade Corrections Dept.

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Quintin Vicks has been arrested and charged in the ambush murder of a South Dade security guard. Miami-Dade Corrections Dept


By DAVID OVALLE
dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

At age 16, Quintin Vicks and two pals broke into a woman’s South Miami-Dade apartment, robbed her at gunpoint and left her tied up in the bathroom.

Although he was charged as an adult, Vicks did not complete any significant jail time. Instead, a Miami-Dade judge last September ruled him “delinquent” as a minor and sentenced him to probation until age 22.

Vicks was trouble-free until Monday – when he appeared in bond court, charged as one of four men who ambushed a security guard as the man made his nightly rounds at a South Miami-Dade apartment complex.

Miami-Dade police say Vicks, now 18, was the getaway driver for a group of youths who fired more than a dozen rounds into the car of Robert Nelson, a guard for 50 State Security. Mortally wounded, Nelson, 48, lost control of the company car and it crashed into a daycare. His bloodied body was pulled out and the assailants stripped him of his firearm and property.

Witnesses called 911 and a Miami-Dade patrol officer quickly found Vicks running through the parking lot trying to get to the getaway car. On him, according to a police report: Nelson’s ID card, credit card and stolen cash.

Witnessed identified Vicks as one of the robbers and he confessed to his role in the planned robbery, according to the arrest report by Miami-Dade homicide Detective Rich Raphael.

Police charged him with first-degree murder and armed robbery. He is being held without bond.

Vicks was also charged with possession of marijuana and the amphetamine known as “Molly.”

The baby-faced teen was supposed to appear in court later this month, to update the court on his probation on the 2011 robbery case and another aggravated assault with a firearm conviction.

A previous judge, Lisa Walsh, adjudicated him as a “high risk” juvenile and he was sent to live a secure residential juvenile program. Vicks spent at least eight months there before he did well enough to be released to his mother’s home, while under the supervision of Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice.

The department submitted regular reports on Vicks’ progress.
Investigators still are hunting for the others involved in Saturday’s murder.

Nelson, a security supervisor who lived in Miami Gardens, had worked with Miami-based 50 State since February 2012.

“Robert Nelson was a valued and trusted member of the 50 State Security team, and we are all heartbroken with this tragedy,” the company said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Robert’s family and friends.”

Nelson graduated from Norland High and Bethune-Cookman University, family said.

Before his job with 50 State, he worked for 15 years as a flight attendant with U.S. Airways, traveling nationally and internationally. He lived with his father and doted over his Kawasaki motorcycle.
“He loved his dad very much. And his dad loved him,” father Bobby Nelson said. “And I’m going to miss him immensely.”

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/1...#storylink=cpy

4 Teens Alleged to Have Killed Security Guard

08/23/13



We need to do a better job of rehabilitating youth criminals. What good is putting a 16 year old in prison for a couple of years if he is only going to be set free to commit crimes again?

From Miami Herald:

At age 16, Quintin Vicks and two pals broke into a woman’s South Miami-Dade apartment, robbed her at gunpoint and left her tied up in the bathroom.

Although he was charged as an adult, Vicks did not complete any significant jail time. Instead, a Miami-Dade judge last September ruled him “delinquent” as a minor and sentenced him to probation until age 22.

Vicks was trouble-free until Monday – when he appeared in bond court, charged as one of four men who ambushed a security guard as the man made his nightly rounds at a South Miami-Dade apartment complex.

Miami-Dade police say Vicks, now 18, was the getaway driver for a group of youths who fired more than a dozen rounds into the car of Robert Nelson, a guard for 50 State Security.

Mortally wounded, Nelson, 48, lost control of the company car and it crashed into a daycare. His bloodied body was pulled out and the assailants stripped him of his firearm and property.

http://www.reagancoalition.com/artic...ity-guard.html

BREAKING: An Arrest In The Fatal War Veteran Beating


krem.com

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Spokane police have arrested one suspect, a juvenile male, in connection with the beating death of an 88 year old man earlier this week outside Eagles Ice-A-Rena.

The suspect was booked on 1st Degree Robbery and 1st Degree Murder charges.

Yesterday, security photos were released by officials showing two suspects in Wednesday's deadly beating of 88-year-old Delbert Belton.

Witnesses described the suspects as 16 to 18-year-old African American males of average build, according to authorities. The identity of the suspect arrested this morning had not been released.
Investigators said Belton was attacked in the parking lot behind the arena, belonging to the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He had just arrived in his car to play pool with a female friend. A witness said she saw two young men run away from Belton's car. She found him by his vehicle badly beaten.

Major Crimes is investigating and are asking anybody with information to please call Crime Check at 509-456-2233.

http://m.590kqnt.com/articles/northw...atal-11597229/

Updated: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 15:18:28 GMT | By M. Alex Johnson and Tracy Connor, NBC News

1 arrest in beating death of WWII vet, 88, in Spokane, Wash.

---

Police released these surveillance camera photos Thursday of two young men believed to be the suspects in the beating death of Delbert Belton of Spokane, Wash. Click to enlarge the images.


A 16-year-old was arrested Friday in the robbery and beating death of an 88-year-old veteran who survived being wounded in World War II, Spokane, Wash., police said.

A second teen was still being sought in the murder of Delbert "Shorty" Belton, a retired aluminum company worker who was brutally attacked in the parking lot of his lodge Wednesday night and died the following morning.

The suspects' names were not released because of their age, police said. The teen in custody was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery.

The victim's daughter-in-law, Barbara Belton, said doctors told her his face was battered so badly that they couldn't stop the bleeding.

"That was no way to have to die," she told NBC News shortly after the arrest was announced. "They said even if he had survived, there probably would have been brain damage. It was horrendous."

She said her father-in-law would not have been carrying more than $150 on him when he drove up to the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie #2.

"Who beats an 88-year-old man in the face?" she said.

At the lodge, a makeshift memorial overflowed with flowers, U.S. flags and messages of sympathy as friends remembered Belton as an active and generous man who had been widowed for about six years.

"He was outstanding," sister Alberta Tosh said. "He went dancing. He worked on cars all the time. He would help anyone who needed help."

Friend Linda Herde told NBC station KHQ of Spokane that Belton "had a heart of gold."

"There wasn't a thing he wouldn’t do for anybody," she added. "He’d give you the shirt off his back."

Great-nephew Allen Hills told KHQ that when he hit bottom about 10 years ago in California, where he was unemployed and sleeping on his mother's sofa, Belton stepped in with the offer of a car and a new life in Washington state.

"It seems trivial, but he really did save my life," Hills said. "He made it possible for me to get a job and find work."

Ted Dennison, a friend, called Belton "a tough old bird" who was shot in the leg in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. His experiences in the war didn't appear to have dampened Belton's instinct to help others, Denison said.

"He was always there any time I needed anything," Denison told KHQ.
Belton died the same day another Spokane man was killed in a confrontation with police, a manifestation of what Hills said was the "senseless violence" plaguing the city of 210,000 in eastern Washington.

Barbara Belton said the suspected arrested Friday was "awfully young" to be involved in such a terrible crime.

"Kids today, they think they can do whatever they want and it doesn't matter. Kids do this kind of stuff and end up in jail and probably end up worse when they come out.

"http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/1-arrest-in-beating-death-of-wwii-vet-88-in-spokane-wash

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Michelle Malkin

James Woods leads call for justice for slain World War II vet Delbert Belton ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/08/22/james-...elbert-belton/

The fruits of the welfare system and having kids for the check. JMO