Two weeks after a brutal beating involving baseball bats, an 80-year-old man is dead, and family members want the thugs who carried out the attack charged to the fullest extent of the law.
The violence began Sept. 20 in the 11700 block of 95A Avenue in North Delta, when 48-year-old David McDonald took his three Jack Russell terriers for a walk.
A pair of teens heading down the road in the opposite direction fanned out, forcing McDonald and his dogs off the road.
McDonald said, "Hey, would it hurt you guys to show some common sense and share some of the road?"
Soon after, four people appeared at McDonald's home. Some began taking baseball bats to two of the cars on the property.
McDonald and his 80-year-old father Gerald came out of the home and confronted the group.
A 16-year-old girl punched the octogenarian in the face, and he responded by hitting her.
And that's when the bats were turned on him.
He was beaten badly to the arms and lower body.
The four attackers, two older teens, a 54-year-old man, who is apparently a parent of one of the teens, and the girl were arrested by police at the scene.
Hailey Melissa McDonald, 19, said Thursday her Harley-riding grandfather looked 20 years younger than his actual age, and he had the energy to match.
That changed after the beating.
"I get up to take a couple of steps, and I feel as weak as a kitten," Gerald told his son, Haley said.
"He just didn't talk like that."
Two days after the beating, he suffered a minor heart attack.
Then two weeks later, he had a massive heart attack and died.
Gerald's grandson Patrick Stacey and Haley believe the attack and his subsequent death are inextricably linked.
It's something not lost on police.
Initial recommendations of assault charges were pulled back by investigators when Gerald McDonald died. Police are waiting for a coroner's report to determine if the beating and death are linked.
If so, more charges may be recommended.
The coroner's report is expected in the next month or so.
Meanwhile, Delta police say the investigation is continuing.