An elderly man who was severely injured in a violent dispute over a parking spot has died, and the charges his alleged assailant faces might be upgraded.
Family members say 80-year-old Earl Hollins was taken off life support after he slipped into a coma as a result of severe head trauma he suffered in a fight at a Food Town grocery store in Houston, Texas.
Investigators initially thought Hollins was hurt in a robbery but later learned that he and a man police identified as 57-year-old Anthony Boyce clashed over a parking spot on Dec. 6.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office believe Boyce attacked Hollins, then fled the scene in his truck.
Deputies also originally thought the pair to be strangers but later learned they knew each other since they both frequent the same grocery store.
Boyce was arrested the day after the attack and charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. Hollins was taken off life support the day of Boyce’s arrest after doctors declared him brain-dead.
Arrest update: The victim, Earl Hollins (80), remains hospitalized in critical condition.
— Ed Gonzalez (@SheriffEd_HCSO) December 7, 2024
Patrol deputies and Violent Crimes Unit Investigators identified the alleged suspect as Anthony Ray Boyce (10-11-67). Boyce was arrested and charged with Aggravated Assault –
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The sheriff’s office said that it would confer with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine if Boyce’s charges would be upgraded to murder, USA Today reported.
Hollins’ family members said they were shocked by the attack on the 80-year-old military veteran.
“I said, ‘My god, over a parking spot. You’re going to injure my uncle, and now, finally, he’s dead, and it was over a parking spot,'” Hollins’ niece Elma Hollins-Washington told KTRK.
Hollins-Washington said the family is struggling with the fact they lost her uncle to such violence during the holidays.
“What he (did), it wasn’t right…it wasn’t human,” Hollins-Washington said of Boyce. “You took something great from us, something that we will never get over.”
Boyce is being held in a Harris County Jail on a $200,000 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 14.
