80-year-old badly beaten inside grocery store bathroom, suspect at large

Last Updated Jul 11th, 2020 at 10:00 am

An 80-year-old man was savagely beaten and robbed inside a grocery store restroom in Lancaster, California on Thursday, after which authorities circulated a photo of the suspect, who is still at large.

The suspect is a black man believed to be between 20 and 25 years old, about 5 feet 8 inches tall, and approximately 250 pounds, according to the sheriff's department. He was wearing a mask featuring large teeth and fangs at the time of the attack.

Authorities also released a photo of a possible female accomplice, who accompanied the man to the store.

The elderly victim, whom family members identified as Roberto Lopez, was rushed to a hospital and placed in an intensive care unit with serious injuries from the beating, including broken cheekbones and five broken ribs.

"Someone found him inside the bathroom and he was bleeding on the floor," said Lopez's son, who added that the attacker continued beating his father even after he had given up his wallet, kicking and striking him in the head and "leaving him on the floor begging for his life."

In a written statement, the sheriff's department said, "At this time, there is no evidence indicating this is a hate crime and seems exclusively to be a robbery"

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