A father in Brooklyn, Maryland, was killed outside his home Friday evening when five people came to his house looking for his son after a middle school fight.
Christopher Michael Wright, 43, was killed when three teens and two adults came looking for his 14-year-old son after a fight that happened earlier in the day at Brooklyn Park Middle School.
The group allegedly came to his house to retaliate against the teen. When Wright told the group the kid would remain inside, they attacked him instead.
Wright was taken to a local trauma center, where he died Saturday from a traumatic brain injury.
“Chris came out to tell them, he’s not coming out here to fight,” Wright’s fiancée, Tracy Karopchinsky, told 11 News. “They threatened at one point to come in and get him, and then they said, ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight.’”
The incident was caught on security cameras belonging to the victim and a neighbor.
Karopchinsky said that the couple’s three children were home at the time.
While at the hospital with her father, she tried to access the home surveillance recordings from her phone. “The first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming, ‘Daddy, daddy, daddy,’ and running out of the house into the street to go help his dad. And, I couldn’t watch anymore after that. I just couldn’t.”
Anne Arundel County police said an investigation is underway and they are looking to file appropriate charges against the individuals involved.
“Anyone who assisted who abetted or was an accomplice of the main suspect or the primary suspect will be culpable,” Anne Arundel County police spokesman Marc Limansky said.
Karopchinsky urged parents to step up, as violence among teens has been escalating.
“They didn’t just ruin our lives. Their lives are going to be changed forever. Their parents’ lives are going to be changed forever, and nobody thinks about that just from a fight,” Karopchinsky said.
“It is everywhere, and somewhere, we as parents are failing these children as parents. It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s our responsibility.”
‘Without Their Father’
Wright’s sister-in-law has launched a GoFundMe page on Sunday to help the afflicted family.
“Chris went outside to defend his son and was beaten in the head and his head was slammed on the concrete repeatedly causing significant brain damage,” the page read, calling Wright “an amazing father and life partner.”
“Tryston, Trenton, and Tevin are now without their father,” the announcement continued. “Tracy, his partner, needs help with funeral costs and help financially with the cost of raising their three boys alone.”
A Wednesday update announced a candlelight vigil to honor Wright, which will be held on Friday at 8:30 p.m.
