Family Seeks Answers After Elderly Cancer Patient Stabbed In Roxbury
BOSTON (CBS) -- The family of a 75-year-old Roxbury man wants answers about who attacked him as he walked home from the corner store after buying scratch tickets.
"Somebody stabbed him, I don't know why," said his sister Norma Thornton.
She says James Barton made it home telling family members he'd been stabbed and they called 911. It was his nightly routine to take a walk and buy the tickets.
But this time someone approached him demanding money. His family says he didn't take it seriously at first trying to push the suspect back with his cane, and then was stabbed in his side.
The retired grandfather, who is battling prostate cancer, is a constant presence in the neighborhood. "It's very sad, he's an old man walking slowly," said Masmun Rassid, owner of La Borinquena, talking about his regular customer.
Boston Police have released photos of two individuals wanted in connection with the attack and the store has turned over surveillance video. One neighbor called it a heartless act against a kind-hearted man.
"They're crazy, they're cowards. How could you do that to a 75 year old man," said the woman who did not want to be identified.
His family says James Barton will undergo a third surgery and they remain hopeful about his recovery.
