Family ‘shattered’ after deadly beating of 70-year-old man outside California home

A 70-year-old California man was beaten to death outside his own home — a tragedy his family said has left them “shattered.”

Anaheim police said Rahmatolah “David” Yaghoubi, 70, was attacked Monday afternoon outside his home at the intersection of Catalpa Avenue and Falmouth Avenue. Yaghoubi had “severe head trauma” and was taken to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.

David Steven Abbott, 30, was arrested and is being held at Anaheim Jail on $2 million bail, police said. Abbott is also accused of attacking a 60-year-old man 20 minutes before he fled the scene and assaulted Yaghoubi.

“I can’t believe he just, from nowhere, comes and do this, and that’s it,” Yaghoubi’s brother, John Yaghoubi, told KTLA. “Our whole life is shattered. My whole family is just falling apart right now.”

Rahmatolah “David” Yaghoubi had lived in the neighborhood for around 30 years and worked at Caltrans as a civil transportation and environmental engineer for more than 17 years, The Orange County Register reported.

“He was a gentle and kind soul who always went the extra mile,” Caltrans said, according to the publication. “We are hurt, we are sad, we are angry, but we are happy, too. Happy that we had the opportunity to know David.”

One of Rahmatolah “David” Yaghoubi’s seven siblings, Jahangir Yaghoubi, told the publication that the 70-year-old visited their 90-year-old mother multiple times a day to check up on her.

“She’s crying, she knows something happened,” Jahangir Yaghoubi said.

Rahmatolah “David” Yaghoubi’s neighbor described the man as “very sweet,” CBS Los Angeles reported.

“He was a friend of mine, was a very sweet older gentleman,” the man’s neighbor, Danni Harrower, told the station. “He would always greet me when I was walking my dogs and my child. He would always give me figs from his fig tree.”

At the time of the attack, police said, Abbott was out on bail from a May 15 arrest after being charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

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