No arrests have yet been made after a father was beaten to death on his doorstep, despite surveillance footage of the incident and those involved being identified by his family.
Christopher Wright, 43, tragically died after defending his son when a middle school argument ended up being brought to his own doorstep.
Wright was at his Maryland home on May 19 when he was confronted by three teenagers and two adults who were looking for the 14-year-old son of his fiancée, who was involved in a fight with a teen at Brooklyn Park Middle School earlier that day, according to reports from WBAL-TV.
The father informed the group that the 14-year-old wasn't going to come out and fight, and they reportedly said that he would have to fight in his place.
The group then set upon Wright, with the incident being caught on his own home surveillance cameras and that of a neighbor.
Wright was rushed to a nearby hospital after the incident, having suffered a traumatic brain injury, but was tragically pronounced dead the next day.
However, despite the fight being caught on camera and Wright's family identifying some of those involved, no arrests have so far been made, a week on from his death.
According to The New York Post, Anne Arundel County Police confirmed that no arrest had been made as of Friday.
Spokesperson Marc Limansky told the publication: "Detectives have collected numerous pieces of physical evidence from the scene, including Ring camera footage," adding that "the family of the victim has provided information about the people involved."
According to Wright's fiancée Tracy Karopchinsky, 44, the dispute between her son and other pupils at his middle school had begun over $30, before the suspects arrived at Wright's home later that day.
Limansky added: "I cannot say definitively that we have a suspect in the homicide of Mr. Wright."
According to The Post, sources claimed that police have "at least two angles of Ring footage, from both sides of the street," which they are still analyzing, but added: "They haven’t made an arrest because they haven’t determined who the aggressor was," as Wright reportedly threw the first punch.
The source claimed that detectives believe the security camera footage will "clarify" that detail and "expect to make an arrest within a week".
Karopchinsky previously said that she was not able to bear watching the Ring camera footage herself, saying at the time: "My dad and I tried to go onto the camera to look, and the first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming 'daddy, daddy, daddy', and running out of the house into the street to go help his dad, and I couldn’t watch anymore after that. I just couldn’t."
However, she did acknowledge that Wright threw the first punch, but says the footage will back up how needless Wright's death was over such a petty dispute.
She added to the publication: "It was never a secret Chris threw the first punch. Homicide detectives knew Chris threw the first punch.
"If [the suspects] didn’t come to our house looking for a fight, this never would have happened."
Karopchinsky also previously told WBAL-TV that her kids had devastatingly watched the brutal altercation that caused her partner's death.
She added: "Just looking at the damage that was done to him, that wasn’t just punching that did that. Like, there’s no way that punching did that.
"The damage was done before the ambulance ever took him away. I mean, he’d had a seizure. It was done. There was nothing that the hospital could do."
Karopchinsky continued: "They didn’t just ruin our lives. Their lives are going to be changed forever. Their parents’ lives are going to be changed forever, and nobody thinks about that just from a fight. It is everywhere, and somewhere, we as parents are failing these children as parents. It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s our responsibility."
Limansky also confirmed: "Anyone who assisted who abetted or was an accomplice of the main suspect or the primary suspect will be culpable."
Our thoughts remain with Wright's family and friends at this difficult time.
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