UPDATE: Family, friends plan vigil after beating victim dies
COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. (WTVR) - A 17-year-old girl suspected in the beating of a Colonial Heights man was ordered back to a juvenile detention center. The teenager had been on house arrest. She is one of three people accused in a domestic-related "mob beating."
Wednesday the family of beating victim Rusty Mack said Mack had taken a turn for the worse and was declared brain dead.
Rusty Mack (Family photo)
In court Wednesday, Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Fields told the court that emergency surgery to remove part of Mack’s skull, in order to relieve pressure, did not have the results doctors had hoped.
Fields went on to say that the family has been told it will be just a matter of days before Mack will pass away.
Defense Attorney Mike Lee told the judge the 17-year-old suspect was an honor roll student who lettered in athletics and is not a flight risk, but the judge ruled house arrest was not enough for the seriousness of the charges.
The teen was taken away in handcuffs.
The three suspects currently face attack by mob charges.
Commonwealth's Attorney William Bray said that if Mack passes away, all three suspects, including Mack's estranged wife, will face murder charges.
