Four days after he was brutally beaten in his own apartment, Harvey Sanderson Jr. died in hospital.
Police confirmed the 27-year-old disabled man died early Wednesday morning. Friends and neighbours are still reeling from the news.
“He was just a little guy, and all I’ve got to say is the people who hurt him are cowards,” said Pamela Carroll, who lives across the street from Sanderson. “That man could not even swing to defend anything ... That is just a brutal attack and there’s no excuse for it.”
Sanderson suffered from brittle bone disease and was confined to a wheelchair.
Close friend Cherie Atkinson went out to the Palomino Club with Sanderson Friday night. She said they parted ways around 2 a.m.
Police say Sanderson met a man and woman outside his apartment building on the 300-block of Kennedy Street, and invited them to his suite. He was attacked and wasn’t discovered until several hours later, when a health-care worker went to the suite Saturday around 11:30 a.m.
Emergency crews rushed the man to hospital in critical condition.
“I didn’t believe it at all,” Atkinson said. “I went and saw him Sunday to see if he was OK, and he was in a deep coma and on life support. It was just sad to see him like that.”
Atkinson stayed with him for hours on Sunday.
“I just hold a lot of regret. I really wish we didn’t go out Friday night, and it’s just really hard to deal with,” she said.
Friend and neighbour Joyce Lancaster called the crime “traumatizing.”
“(It’s) terrible. Just kind of stunned,” Lancaster said. “There’s no safe community anymore.”
Lancaster lived just a few doors down from Sanderson. She said she’d always remember his smile.
“(He was a) very friendly, bubbly individual,” Lancaster said. “Always smiling, always happy. Lived life to the fullest.”
Atkinson said she is “numb” and can’t believe she won’t see Sanderson anymore.
“He just wanted to show people he didn’t care what they thought, he was independent, he’s gonna do his own thing,” she said. “He’s a human being with a heart ... He’s just awesome.”
Bobbi Melissa McKay and John Raven Ward, both 27, have been charged with robbery and aggravated assault.
McKay was on probation for a previous conviction. Ward was on parole and wanted on a warrant at the time of the attack.
Police are investigating whether charges will be upgraded now that the case is considered a homicide.
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