Two have been arrested in a fatal attack on a homeless man sleeping in a New York parking lot

Police officers guard One Police Plaza NYPD headquarters. File | Photo credit: AP

According to police, two men were arrested on manslaughter charges Friday (October 11, 2024) when a homeless man was attacked while he was sleeping in a Brooklyn supermarket parking lot.

The suspects were awaiting arraignment and it was not clear whether they had lawyers who could comment on the allegations.

“38-year-old Jervis Jonas Ajpuac and another man were beaten with metal pipes and a baseball bat around 7 p.m. on September 18,” police said. Ajpuac died from his injuries on October 2nd. The other man, a 42-year-old, survived.

The attackers “simply attacked them while they were sleeping,” said Stephen DeGrasse, store security guard Daily NewsHe said he had seen security footage of the beating.

He said the victims and the suspects all visited the same ShopRite supermarket to redeem the five-cent deposits they collected on bottles and cans.

They were friends, he said, and drank beer together after cashing in the bottles. There was no immediate information from police about what sparked the attack.