PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A man who was beaten in Old Town over the weekend has died from his injuries, detectives announced Thursday.
Authorities identified the man as Tony Wise. The attack was so bad, investigators call it “exceptionally brutal.”
KOIN 6 talked to a close friend of his family who said he suffered with mental health problems most of his life which eventually led to him becoming homeless.
“The family had been looking for him because they’d been wanting to help him, they’d been worried about him especially two years ago when the pandemic started,” family friend Jaime Brown said.
Brown says four years ago Wise left home and never returned.
She told KOIN 6 Wise’s family always looked for him, especially his sister, who Brown says spent endless hours over those four years trying to track him down. She says the family never gave up hope until this week when they learned he was brutally beaten. Brown took Wise’s mother to the hospital to confirm it was him.
“She fell apart. Her first words to tony were ‘where have you been? I’ve been looking for you’ and she just kept repeating that as she cried on his chest,” Brown said.
What makes this story even more tragic is that in all those years Wise’s sister searched for him, he was only a few blocks from her home.
Wise was homeless but he ate most of his meals at the Blanchet House at Northwest Third and Glisan.
That’s the area where Portland police say they found him beaten unconscious Sunday, shortly after 4:00 in the morning.
“I pray that these people that did this, this act of such horrible violence on another human being, I pray that they’re brought to justice,” Brown said.
Scott Kerman, executive director at the Blanchet House, says Wise’s death has shaken some of their staff and volunteers. But he said the fact that living on the streets is dangerous, is nothing new.
“That’s one of the things that further traumatizes people who are houseless is that they are in that permanent fight or flight state of being and it does terrible things to their mental health and can lead to substance abuse,” Kerman said.
Like Wise’s family, Kerman says it’s time that providing mental health services become a priority.
“Part of what we need to address is the mental health crisis among our houseless community especially here in Old Town,” Kerman explained.
Police haven’t released any information about the person or people they think assaulted Wise, but they say if you have info that might help in this case, to reach out to Detective Michael Greenlee at (503) 823-0871 Michael.Greenlee@portlandoregon.gov or Detective Brad Clifton at (503) 823-0696 Brad.Clifton@portlandoregon.gov.