‘Laughing’ teens arrested for allegedly beating father of three to death outside Kroger
Dionta Hughes, (L) and Jamarion Evans-Bennett (R) are two of the suspects arrested in the alleged beating death of a father of three outside a Kroger store in Columbus, Ohio. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office)
Three teenagers have been arrested for beating an Ohio father of three to death, police say.
Columbus police said the incident happened at 7 p.m. on Dec. 6. The three young men allegedly engaged the victim, 53-year-old Donnie Smith, inside a Kroger grocery store, WSYX-TV reported.
The suspects were asked to leave by security after getting into an altercation with patrons inside the store, and then the fight continued outside, police said. Smith was taken to a hospital in critical condition and later died.
One of the friends who was with Smith at the time told WSYX the group was "trying to pick on whoever they could."
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Jamarion Evans-Bennett, 19, is one of three suspects police say beat a father of three to death. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office)
Charging documents obtained by the local ABC station say Smith was "unconscious and bleeding from the head due to the beating" and that the group was "laughing and enjoying themselves" while assaulting him.
Smith died two weeks after the assault, the media outlet reported.
Dionta Hughes, 18, and two others allegedly got into an altercation with 53-year-old victim Donnie Smith at a Kroger store on Dec. 6, 2023, in Columbus, Ohio. (Franklin County Sheriff's Office)
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The suspects left the scene in a red vehicle, police said.
Police did not say how homicide detectives got on their trail, but they did say they arrested 18-year-old Dionta Hughes, 19-year-old Jamarion Evans-Bennett and 17-year-old Jayden Agee on murder charges.
Photos of Hughes and Evans-Bennett were released but not for Agee because he is a minor.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Columbus police.