Police have reportedly obtained arrest warrants for unknown suspects in the murder of Father Christopher Wright, 43, in front of his Maryland home, while facing off head-on with his teenage son’s bullies.
The suspects could be arrested and charged sometime this week, a source told the New York Post.
Another source close to the investigation said authorities had hesitated to charge the suspects because the father of three threw the first punch.
The names of the suspects, or the number facing possible charges, have not been released.
Haunting videos captured the brutal incident in May showing Wright being thrown to the ground and repeatedly hit in the head, causing a fatal brain injury, while his 14-year-old son Trenton watched helplessly.
Anne Arundel County police said earlier this week that no arrests have been made, though reports say Wright’s family has identified some of those involved.
Police have reportedly obtained arrest warrants for unknown suspects in the murder of 43-year-old father Christopher Wright (pictured) outside his Maryland home.
Wright, a father of three, was said to be shielding his middle son when he was slammed to the ground.
Tracy Karopchinsky, Wright’s fiancée, said the fight happened May 19 when students from the same high school as her 14-year-old son, Trenton, came to fight him for $30.
She said that three teenagers and two adults showed up at her house, and one of the adults said that if Trenton didn’t fight, his father would have to.
Disturbing videos showed Wright being thrown to the ground and repeatedly hit in the head as his son looked on helplessly.
He suffered a traumatic brain injury and died a day later.
In a clip of the attack, the assailants encounter the father in a confrontation, as Wright, dressed in a white T-shirt, is seen speaking and pointing to his left.
Wright exchanged words with the group on his front lawn, before throwing a punch at a man in a black T-shirt.
The father then backed away and headed towards his home as the swarm of attackers advanced and began beating him.
Seconds later, the man in the black T-shirt tackled Wright to the ground between two vehicles and launched a series of punches at his head as he lay motionless on the road.
Tracy Karopchinsky, Wright’s fiancée, said the fight occurred when students from the same high school as her 14-year-old son, Trenton, sought to fight him for $30.
Just two weeks before the May attack, Wright posted a lurid message on Facebook saying he was grateful for his life.
Another fight broke out on the sidewalk, but the identity of those people is still unclear.
It was only when another person checked on Wright, who was still unconscious on the track, that the group realized he was not moving.
They were then seen dispersing, with someone yelling in the background and another repeatedly yelling, ‘What the hell?’
Two more people in the group went to check on Wright again, apparently examining his head, before the rest returned to their vehicle and fled the scene.
The attackers told his under-12-year-old son who saw the ordeal: “I’m sorry, call 911,” DailyMail.com previously revealed.
The photos revealed traces of Wright’s blood still stained the floor outside the family home despite efforts by neighbors to clean it up before Kaporchinsky returned from work.
Security footage posted online shows the father of three being thrown to the ground
The attackers, three teenagers and two adults, continued to beat Wright, who was already unconscious and bleeding after being thrown to the ground.
The group of people can be seen huddled around Wright’s body, which is lying on the concrete after being punched by one of the group members.
Karopchinsky didn’t seem surprised when she saw the footage, and police already knew Wright had thrown the first punch.
However, she insists that if the perpetrators had not come to her house looking for trouble, the tragic incident would never have happened.
‘It was never a secret that Chris threw the first punch. Homicide detectives knew that Chris pulled off the first hit,” he told The New York Post. ‘Yeah [Wright’s killers] didn’t come to our house looking for a fight, this would never have happened.’
He also recounted how his three children went to say goodbye to him at the hospital while he lay in a coma.
“I told the children that we had to go to the hospital,” he told The Post. ‘I let the guys come in and talk to him and tell him they love him. He did not have any brain function at the time.
“He just wanted the guys to be able to talk to him, tell him that they loved him and that they would see him later. It was difficult.’
“I lay in bed with my fiancée all Saturday and held her hands,” he said.
Karopchinsky was at work when the fight occurred. His neighbor called his manager to let her know what happened.
“I got to the phone and she said, ‘Chris has been in a fight, he got hit a lot, it was really bad,’ she said. “He was having some kind of panic attack, he couldn’t breathe. He was terrified.’
Wright was taken to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery on his brain.
“The surgery lasted about three and a half hours. By the time they took me to him, his severe brain injury had turned into a catastrophic brain injury,” Karopchinsky said.
Wright was taken to the hospital where he underwent emergency brain surgery.
“He had severe brain damage,” Karopchinsky explained. “The surgery lasted about three and a half hours. By the time they took me to him, his severe brain injury had turned into a catastrophic brain injury.
“After the surgery, they were doing constant CT scans and had stopped some bleeding in her brain, but then they saw that she had had a stroke and had brain stem bleeding that they couldn’t do anything about.”
I went home to talk to the boys. I told them: “It is very bad”. The teens didn’t really understand what “very bad” meant.
Chris, who fathered Tryston, Trenton and Tevin, has since been cremated and the family plans to celebrate his life during a memorial on June 11.
Neighbor Richard Balsamo, 58, said: ‘Chris was a nice guy. He didn’t bother anyone. He stayed on his porch, he took care of his garden, he took care of his children. For someone to come here and take him away from his girlfriend and his children is ridiculous and wrong and something needs to be done.
‘It has shocked the neighborhood. He is a very good guy and very good with his children.
His sister-in-law, Kristin Karopchinsky, created a GoFundMe, who explained that Wright had come out to defend her son Trenton, who had been threatened.
Anne Arundel County Police spokesman Marc Limansky said: “Anyone who aided, abetted or was abetted by the prime suspect or the prime suspect shall be guilty.”
