More Senseless Cruelty: Homeless Houston Man Brutally Killed

by Shannon Moriarty · 2008-11-19 21:22:00 UTC
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Barely a month after John McGraham was burned to death in LA, another homeless man has become the victim of senseless, violence crime. Johnny Pena, who lived on the streets of Houston, was brutally beaten, stabbed, and burned to death this weekend.

The Houston Chronical reported:

Johnny Pena, 55, had been living on the street on the city's west side since he stopped working as a barber three years ago. Authorities and family say he slept in alleys, drank a daily ration of beer and fed the stray dogs that liked to follow him around, but most in the neighborhood considered him harmless.

Authorities say he was sleeping in an alley early Saturday when Juan Gutierrez, 18, and Carlos Portillo, 19, came across him on their way home from a party.

"I'm going to go at him," said one of the young men, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

Gutierrez told police he and Portillo kicked Pena repeatedly, stabbed him with a pocket knife and then hit him with a metal pipe, according to the affidavit.

The young men then poured a flammable liquid on Pena, lit a piece of paper on fire and threw it on him, the document says.

Gutierrez and Portillo were charged with murder Tuesday. Jail records had no attorney listed for either man.

Investigators don't believe the young men knew Pena and aren't sure what the motive was, said police spokesman Sgt. Gabe Trevino.

Will the push for homeless hate crime protection intensify? More importantly, when will the violence stop?

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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