LEMON GROVE, Calif. (KGTV) — Three teens appeared in a juvenile court accused of killing a 49-year-old man in Lemon Grove, including two 14-year-old boys.
Cellphone video shows the moments before the attack where a group gathered along Lemon Grove Avenue January 10 around 10 p.m.
“A woman screaming. We heard a man yelling,” said Alison Holguin.
Holguin says she looked out her balcony window and saw about six people beating up on a man.
“Fighting, kicking, punching. The gentleman went down to the ground. They continued to stomp, kick his head, his body. At one point, two gentlemen spread his legs apart … You couldn’t hear any gunshots, so I knew he had been stabbed, because so much blood came out,” said Holguin.
Holguin ran down the stairwell and tried to help the man, who had been stabbed in the thigh. His attackers had begun to scatter.
“I had one hand behind him and one hand on his chest, telling him to stay calm, to take deep breaths,” said Holguin. “I will forever remember the pain and terror of his last gasps of air.”
Paramedics would quickly arrive, but Vinson Austin would not make it.
A few days later, three teens—two 14-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy—were arrested on murder charges.
“It’s a sense of a loss. I am sad, sitting here. I’m trying to hold back the tears,” said Kathy Hill, Austin’s sister.
Although they had drifted apart in recent years, Hill calls her brother, a father of 4, an energetic, friendly person and someone who did not pick fights. Austin lived in El Cajon.
“It's shocking someone so young could do this to someone, for whatever reason,” said Hill.
The teens appeared in juvenile court Tuesday on the murder charges. A motive remains unknown.
“They need to be taught a hard-core lesson. They took my brother’s life,” said Hill.
“They are not innocent children. They had intent to cause harm,” said Holguin.
Prosecutors will attempt to charge one of the juveniles as an adult, although the age of that suspect hasn't been released. A hearing to determine if he will be charged as an adult hasn't been scheduled yet.
