Police say two men charged after homeless man was mistaken for repeat burglar and beaten near Luell Street in north Houston

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Police say two men have been arrested and charged after being accused of beating up a man they say is a repeat burglar.

Rodolfo Ramirez, 46, and Joel Ramirez, 43, were charged with assault with a deadly weapon on Wednesday morning of a 42-year-old homeless man.

Court documents say the suspects saw a man standing next to a vehicle outside their home on Luell Street in North Houston just after 4 a.m. and claimed he was responsible for a series of vehicle burglaries.

Police say one of the men started beating the victim with a metal bat, while the other man started beating him with a gun.

“Every time they hit him, he was screaming and they were talking in Spanish,” said Willie Gaines, who witnessed part of the attack.

A Spanish-speaking witness told Eyewitness News that the victim pleaded with his attackers and quoted him as saying: “I won’t do it again. I promise”.

“From my perspective, he accomplished what he set out to do,” Gaines said.

Police told Eyewitness News that they had not received any reports of vehicle break-ins at the suspects’ home in the past six months, and the victim was never charged.

Nevertheless, Eyewitness News neighbors interviewed off-camera say they sympathize with the suspects.

“You don’t steal from people. If you borrow something from people, you bring it back. You don’t take it,” Gaines said.

Eyewitness News has been unable to contact the suspects or victims in this case for their accounts of what happened.

Earlier this week, the Houston Police Department urged people not to meet with suspected thieves and instead contact authorities.

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