15-year-old seen on video ‘bludgeoning’ man sleeping on discarded sofa, California cops say
Authorities in Northern California have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the “bludgeoning” death of a man who officers said was killed while he was sleeping on a discarded sofa behind a shopping center in Redding.
A security guard made the grizzly discovery as she patrolled the Lake Boulevard Plaza Shopping Center just before 6 a.m. Monday, Redding police said in a news release. Officers and paramedics who arrived at the scene found the man with “severe trauma to his head and face,” and he was pronounced dead, police said.
“Video from the business was obtained and depicted a juvenile male, armed with a baseball bat, bludgeoning the sleeping victim,” Redding police said. Homicide detectives “encountered” a teen who matched the attacker seen in the video and detained him for questioning.
The boy was later booked into the Shasta County Juvenile Rehabilitation Facility and faces one charge of murder and an additional charge of committing a felony while armed.
The identity of the 55-year-old man was expected to be released by the Shasta County Coroner’s Office; the suspect’s name was not released because he is a juvenile.
