Modesto Man Killed In Machete Attack, Loved Ones Say They Know Who Did It
MODESTO (CBS13) – A memorial in Modesto's Mellis Park marks the spot where police say father and church volunteer Robbie Hull was attacked and killed by a man with a machete.
Mark Fifer can't believe his lifelong friend is so suddenly gone.
"Very outgoing guy. Father figure," Fifer said. "He lived his life the way he wanted to live his life. Unfortunately, it came to this."
Hull's friends say he was just walking home Friday night. The 55-year-old apparently got into a fight in the park across the street from the church where he never missed a Sunday service and volunteered as a groundskeeper.
"He told him to get out of his business," a witness said.
Witnesses told police Hull was walking away from the fight when the other man stabbed him with what was described as a "large machete."
Friends say he was stabbed a dozen times.
"He was trying to walk home and he didn't make it," said Margaret Brown, Hull's roommate.
Brown, like the others here, believes she actually knows the man who committed the crime.
"And I didn't like him when I met him, and all I know is they call him 'Bama' and I don't know where he come from. He just appeared one day," Brown said.
Modesto police have not publicly identified a suspect in a machete murder that left children without their father.
"I have to kids by him, a boy and a girl, and they're kinda taking it real hard. I have to be strong for them," Estelle Counts said.
Police believe the suspect hopped in a car and drove off. Robby Hull was rushed to the hospital Friday night, but died a few hours later.