Blood still stains the concrete outside the modest Escondido, California, home that neighbors once called the “Trump house,” a place better known for its flags and patriotic displays.
On what should have been the quiet lead‑up to Memorial Day weekend, the homeowner and Army veteran who adored President Donald Trump with unembarrassed zeal was beaten so brutally in front of his own doorstep that he would never come home again.
A 69-year-old man known in his San Diego County neighborhood as the owner of the “Trump house” has died from injuries suffered when he was brutally assaulted outside of his home.Kerry George Sheron of Escondido was hospitalized in critical condition last week after he was attacked outside his MAGA-themed residence at East Mission Avenue and Buchanan Street around 2 p.m., according to the city Police Department. The alleged attacker, Thomas Caleb Butler, 32, fled on foot and was apprehended that day.Butler initially was charged with attempted murder, cruelty to an elder resulting in great bodily injury, making a criminal threat and battery, according to the San Diego County district attorney’s office. He pleaded not guilty Friday.On Sunday evening, police were notified that Sheron had died. The cause of death is pending determination by the county medical examiner.
Serurity footage showed Sheron was downed by a single punch to the jaw, followed by several hits to the head. A truly awful way to die.
Security video obtained by NBC 7 from across the street shows the altercation. The bystander told NBC 7 the homeowner was standing in the front yard when the suspect came up and attacked him. The witness tried to intervene before the suspect fled on foot before officers arrived.Ross Garcia said Sheron suffered severe injuries during what prosecutors described as an unprovoked attack.“It was a single punch to the jaw,” Ross Garcia said. “The victim then falls to the floor, and there are subsequent hits to the victim’s head area.”
The accused has plead not guilty to the charge. News outlets assert there is no proof that the attack was politically motived but perhaps was a random act of violence from someone with mental illness.
Butler pleaded not guilty Friday afternoon to several charges, including attempted murder.
Police have not released a motive for the attack, though the home’s prominent political display has raised questions about a possible political motivation.Joseph, who says he became friends with Sheron and his wife through conversations while walking past the home, does not believe the attack was politically motivated. He says he knows Butler and describes him as a known transient with mental health issues.”He lives where he can. A lot of randomly yelling in the air,” Joseph said.
Maria Sheron, the victim’s wife, is struggling with grief. Well-wishers across the community are dropping off flowers at the “Trump House.”
“I feel a lot of pain in my heart,” she said.Despite the heartbreak of dealing with the loss of her husband after a brutal attack, she said she also feels bad for the suspect’s family.“I’m feeling bad for the mother for the guy who do that, because he ruined his life,” said Maria. “I’m feeling bad for her, but the stuff he did to my husband is terrible.”After his passing, friends, family and neighbors had gathered outside Sheron’s home in Escondido, waving American flags. Others were seen dropping off flowers and flags on Monday.
Whether this tragedy was born of anti-Trump-rage or the random act of a violent and mentally-ill transient, the result is the same: an Army veteran who loved his country and asked nothing more than to live freely on his own porch is dead, beaten down days before one of the most patriotic days on the American calendar.
Escondido police assert that they found no evidence of political motivation, and the accused (himself a Navy veteran) reportedly suffered from severe PTSD and untreated mental illness that left him a transient in the very neighborhood where Kerry Sheron flew his flags.
Whatever the motive for the brutal beating, the real indictment belongs to the state of California, which both abandons its mentally ill to the streets and wages constant political war against President Donald Trump.
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