Hampton, Va. - A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old have been accused in the murder of a 53-year-old homeless man in Hampton.
On August 4th, 2015 at 10:26 p.m., police responded to the 200 block of Buckroe Avenue about a complaint. The caller said a man was down.
Officers arrived and found the victim, Charles Howard Amos, who had been bleeding from the head and died behind the Buckroe Beach Market.
"It's devastating," said William Riley, a friend of Amos. "He was a kind man. He'd do anything to help anybody."
After an investigation, police found that Amos and another 52-year-old man were in the 200 block of Buckroe Avenue when they were approached by two juvenile suspects who assaulted them.
After the assault, police say the juveniles took a bicycle from one of the victims and tried to leave the area.
"The two came up from the alley. One of them hit me and then they took off down the alley," says John, who claims to be the other victim in the incident. "Everything went so fast."
The two teenagers were found shortly after the incident.
They were arrested and charged with one count of felony murder, one count of robbery, one count of attempt robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Court documents reveal the boys told police their intent was to assault Amos and rob him. One of the boys punched Amos and knocked him off the bicycle before fleeing.
The boys ran to their home on Grimes Road and changed clothes. They then reportedly went to the fire pit in the backyard and burned the clothes they were wearing during the attempted robbery.
Friends of the two teenagers who wish to remain anonymous say one of them only punched Amos once and never intended to kill him. They believe that Amos and the other man instigated the violence.
"They just kept bullying them and asking for them for change, telling them to come here, the kids just got fed up so he just hit him one time," a friend says. "Those kids didn't want to murder anybody."
Investigators believe these two may have committed other robberies and assaults in the area recently.
If you know anything about this case or any others, please call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
