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An Oahu grand jury indicted a 50-year-old homeless man Thursday in connection with the fatal beating of another homeless man at a bus stop along Ala Moana Boulevard across from Ala Moana Center.
The indictment charges Oscar Tolentino with murder for causing the death of 43-year-old Loriano Lorenzo. Tolentino remains in custody, unable to post $500,000 bail.
Honolulu firefighters and a city ambulance crew responded to a report of an unresponsive male in Ala Moana Beach Park and found Lorenzo lying in the park’s canal near the Ewa end of Ala Moana Center. The ambulance crew transported him in critical condition to The Queen’s Medical Center, where he died Sunday.
The Honolulu Medical Examiner says Lorenzo died from blunt force head trauma.
Police said two witnesses told them they saw another man assault Lorenzo at the bus stop in the late-night hours of March 17 or early morning hours of March 18.
They said one witness told them Lorenzo was sitting on the ground against a concrete pillar when the man approached and punched him in the face, then slammed the back of his head into the pillar. The witness said the male then grabbed Lorenzo by the hair, slammed his head facedown on the concrete pavement multiple times, then threw Lorenzo’s limp body against the pillar.
The witness said after Lorenzo started moving, the man stomped on his face and prevented the witness from intervening.
The motive for the attack was unclear.
Police said two witnesses picked out Tolentino as Lorenzo’s attacker from a photo lineup. They arrested Tolentino on March 22 for an assault on another male in the park, then charged him with the attempted murder of Lorenzo. The charge was upgraded to murder when Lorenzo died.
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