Nick Poppa says his older brother Vince is in intensive care at Methodist on a ventilator fighting for his life.
"They hit him in the back of the head with a gun and they start punching and kicking him," Nick said of his brother's attack.
Before his condition worsened, Nick says Vince told him and family friends that he was walking home from 7-11 Saturday night when he was mugged of his social security money and beaten to a pulp on the sidewalk near court "D" of Unico Village and that he lay there unconscious for almost an hour before he managed to stagger back to his apartment in the "C" unit.
"He remembers laying there for awhile until he could compose himself to get up and walk. Nobody came near him to help him," family friend Deborah Rossitter said.
The HUD-subsidized complex which is managed and operated by Presby's Inspired Life has armed security guards on the premises. They were put in place after a rash of attacks on elderly residents on the 8 acre complex back in 2005. Back then, the 12th district also had intense police patrols in the area, but a spokesman for the manager says the incident happened on the sidewalk farther away near a side wall of the China House II restaurant which they are not obligated to patrol.
Still, residents say it does not explain why no-one noticed Poppa lying on the sidewalk and then staggering back to his place.
"The security stinks; I wouldn't dare go to the store as soon as it gets dark," resident Fannie Nicastro said.
"You're always in fear, you go out with a car and now you always come back before it gets dark," resident Philomena Desanto said.
"And the office tells us 'Go in pairs.' What do I have to do? Call everybody up and say, 'You're going to the store?' I mean, we live in fear," resident Angie Croyden said.
An official from Southwest detectives has now been assigned to the case, but so far, there are no suspects. Meanwhile, the 12th police district is planning to sponsor a safety awareness workshop for elderly residents on March 25th at Unico Village in the wake of the attack.
