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Oct 8, 2009 5:54 pm US/Eastern
Wilton Manors Man Attacked Outside Diner Dies
Craig Cohen Never Regained Consciousness
OAKLAND PARK (CBS4) ―
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Craig Cohen died Wednesday, six months after he was severely beaten after leaving an Oakland Park diner.
CBS
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Pargu Leandro (left) and Victor Gonzalez have been charged in the beatings and robberies of two men in Oakland Park.
Broward Sheriffs Office/CBS
A Wilton Manors man severely beaten after he left the Peter Pan Diner in Oakland Park six months ago has died. Craig Cohen, 47, passed away Wednesday at HospiceCare of Southeast Florida in Fort Lauderdale; his friends said he never regained consciousness after the attack.
According to the Broward Sheriff's Office Cohen was heading home around 1:20 a.m. on April 6th from the diner, located at Dixie Highway and Oakland Park Blvd., when he was attacked by as many as four men. They stomped his head into the ground and left him bleeding. They stole his cell phone
Five minutes after Cohen was attacked and less than two miles away, in the 1500 block of Northeast 4th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale, David Villanova was attacked after he left the Sidelines Bar in Wilton Manors on his way to 7-11 store.
"One of them hit me in the side of the head," said Villanova. "It happened so suddenly, I didn't even see what they looked like."
Villanova was robbed of his credit cards and wallet with just $20 in it.
Police said since both men were gay, they considered that the attacks were hate crimes. Weeks after the attacks, BSO arrested two Deerfield Beach after receiving a tip from Crime Stoppers.
Detectives say on the morning of the attacks, 21-year-old Victor Gonzalez and 25-year-old Pargu Leandro had been drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana with friends and talking about how much fun it would be to beat someone up.
"Where's the value of life?" wonders Cohen's friend of 30 years Hector Varas. "There's no excuse, they say, 'oh, we were drunk, let's hurt someone.' Well they picked the wrong person. The whole community, Broward County, is after this."
Investigators determined Cohen and Villanova were targeted not because they were gay, but because they were alone and vulnerable.
In addition to the robbery and assault charges, Gonzalez and Leandro could now face murder charges. Cohen's friends vow they will pack the courtroom every step of the way. "There's other victims out there other than Craig," said friend Art Arndt. "They hurt a lot of people that night. I don't think they understand it and I hope they get quite a long time in jail to think about what they've done and I hope they come to terms with it."
"We want justice," added Varas. "We want these two individuals to be in jail as long as we can."
Next Thursday, October 15th, friends of Cohen along with members of the Craig Cohen Animal Advocacy Project (CCAAP) and Gay American Heroes will hold a candle light vigil and walk in Wilton Manors beginning at 6:30 p.m. Anyone wishing to participate is asked to meet in the parking lot of Georgie's Alibi 2266 Wilton Drive.
There will be a short presentation with Craig's family, co-workers and community leaders, followed by candle light walk down Wilton Dr. The CCAAP was launched to help victims of violent crime retain their companion animals while they recover from assault or to assist with appropriate placement of their pets if necessary.
CBS4.com's John MacLauchlan contributed to this report
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