A Chicago man was charged Wednesday with murdering a 60-year-old homeless man after dropping a large metal fire extinguisher onto him from the top floor of a five-story parking garage in suburban Elgin.
Yancarlo Garcia, 23, allegedly threw the fire extinguisher onto Richard Gibbons about 1:40 a.m. Aug. 1. Gibbons, who had been sleeping in an alley below the deck at the time of the incident, sustained injuries to his abdomen and died Sept. 4, the Chicago Tribune reports. He had woken up when he heard laughter coming from the parking deck, located on Fulton Street in downtown Elgin. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Garcia has been charged with first degree murder and had already been held at Cook County jail on an unrelated charge -- possession of a stolen vehicle and driving with a revoked license -- at the time of the new charge being filed, according to the Daily Herald.
Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda described Garcia's charges as "a senseless crime against a defenseless man," the Chicago Sun-Times reports. "It's particularly sad when someone decides to randomly harm another who posed no imminent threat to anyone."
Investigators said they were led to Garcia after finding evidence at the scene of the crime, according to the Sun-Times. While security cameras are installed at the deck, authorities have not disclosed whether the attack was caught on tape.
Photo by Thing Three via Flickr.