Tuyen Nguyen, 83, was beaten in a parking lot in Santa Ana and police were searching for the attacker seen in this surveillance video. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, 2015.
A man described by police as homeless has been arrested in connection with a brutal attack of an 83-year-old man in a Santa Ana parking lot caught on surveillance video.
Demarrea Chante Barnes, 29, was arrested in Anaheim, police said Saturday.
He is a suspect in the beating of Tuyen Nguyen, 83, on Friday. The attack took place in the 5000 block of West Edinger Avenue, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
Surveillance footage shows Nguyen pulling into the parking lot where he got out of his vehicle. He was attacked without provocation by the assailant. The man could be seen punching and kicking Nguyen multiple times, knocking him to the ground.
Nguyen, who was hospitalized, told his family he knew the man who attacked him but did not know why he was assaulted.
Anthony Bertagna, a Santa Ana Police Department spokesman, said police were not sure why Barnes attacked Nguyen.
"We don't know if he's on drugs, he's intoxicated, or if in fact he has mental health issues, but he does come back and then leaves again," Bertagna said.
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Anyone with information was asked to contact the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-493-9135 or Orange County Crime Stoppers at 855-847-6227.