Two transients were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of terrorizing another homeless man at a squatters’ camp near Buena Vista Lagoon by beating him, tying him up, dousing him with gasoline and threatening to set him ablaze.
Patrol officers responding to a report of an injured person off the 2400 block of Carlsbad Boulevard found the 49-year-old victim in a neighborhood a short distance from that location shortly before 7 a.m., according to police.
The man, whose name was withheld, told the officers that two homeless acquaintances had attacked and threatened to set him on fire in order to force him to tell them where he kept some possessions, Sgt. Darbie Ernst said.
When he relented and told them what they wanted to know, they halted the assault and left, the sergeant said.
Medics took the victim to Tri-City Medical Center, where he was admitted in undisclosed condition.
About 10:45 a.m., officers tracked down the alleged assailants in the 3200 block of Production Avenue in Oceanside, Ernst said. The suspects, identified as Hakim Nadear Hudson, 36, and Mario Lucas Pinto, 66, were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, assault and making criminal threats.
–City News Service
