The 88-year-old World War II veteran who was beaten to death with a flashlight as he crossed a parking lot in Washington state may have died because he tried to defend himself, police said.
Two teenage suspects have been arrested in the attack on Delbert Belton. They are Demetrius Glenn and Kenan Adams Kinard, both 16. Several others accused of “rendering criminal assistance” to Kenan while he hid from police were arrested, also.
Spokane police said Mr. Belton made the two teens angry when he tried to fight them, and that’s when they started to hit him on his head with “big, heavy flashlights,” Breitbart reported.
“Our information is that the individual fought back and that may have made this, you know, a worse situation,” Spokane police Chief Frank Straub said.
Mr. Belton, who was shot in the leg during fighting in Okinawa in World War II, was on his way into a lodge to play pool when he was approached by the suspects, witnesses told police.
The death of Mr. Belton raised some questions about race and how members of the media, post-George Zimmerman-Trayvon Martin trial, treat violent crimes that are allegedly committed by blacks — the two teen suspects are black — onto whites, and whether a double standard exists.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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