A 14-year-old youth will face upgraded charges following the death of a 95-year-old man after an alleged assault in the lobby of his New Jersey apartment building a week earlier, authorities said.
Police were called to the Collingswood building on Jan. 7 and the victim was taken to a hospital, where his condition worsened and he died Thursday, Camden County prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said surveillance footage shows the victim, 95-year-old Anthony Donofrio, in the midst of a group of teens playing in the lobby. They says the video shows him walking away, and one of the teens running toward him, punching him in the side of the head and shoving him to the ground.
A medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma and the manner of death to be homicide, prosecutors said. The teen was charged with second-degree aggravated assault and endangerment, and prosecutors said he will now face upgraded charges which they didn't specify.
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The teenager, whose name wasn't released because of his age, is being held in a juvenile facility, prosecutors said.
Officials at the Parkview at Collingswood called the case “a horrible tragedy."
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of one of our residents, and our thoughts are with his family at this time,” the property’s manager, Jacqueline DeRita, said in a statement Friday. She said officials provided video footage to authorities “and will continue to assist however we can," the Burlington County Times reported.
