A father was killed on his doorstep, trying to defend his 14-year-old son after a fight broke out at a local school and a group swarmed on his Maryland home.
Christopher Wright, 43, was dragged into a fight that started at Brooklyn Park Middle School and moved to his house in Anne Arundel County, his fiancée Tracy Karopchinsky claims.
She says her 14-year-old son got into conflict with another teen at the school on Friday, before three adolescents and two adults showed up at her home.
Her husband told the group their son would not be fighting, to which they are said to have replied: ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight us.’
Wright was horrifically beaten by the group, watched by his 12-year-old son who ran to help him screaming ‘daddy, daddy, daddy’, and taken to a trauma center. He was pronounced dead on Saturday after sustaining a traumatic brain injury.
Christopher Wright, 43, who died after sustaining a brain injury when he was beaten up on his doorstep
Pictured: Christopher Wright who died from his injuries following the incident last Friday
The fight was caught on security cameras belonging to the victim and a neighbor, WBAL-TV reported.
Karopchinsky said: ‘My dad and I tried to go on the camera to look, and the first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy’, and running out of the house to go into the street and help his dad.
‘I couldn’t watch anymore after that. I just couldn’t.’
She said her three children were home when their father was attacked.
Speaking to CBS News, Karopchinsky said: ‘He was a friend to everybody, the outpour we have been getting from friends.
‘They are really going to miss out on somebody with a really big heart.’
Officials from the school acknowledged the fight had taken place and said that they worked to address the issue.
They are working with police on the investigation. Police have said charges could be filed against those involved in the brutal assault.
Marc Limansky, spokesman for Anne Arundel County Police, said: ‘Anybody who assisted or abetted or was an accomplice of the main suspect or the primary suspect in this incident would be culpable.’
Karopchinsky stressed the devastating effects the death of her husband would have on her children, and the children who attacked him.
She said: ‘They didn’t just ruin our lives. Their lives are going to be changed forever. Their parents’ lives are going to be changed forever, and nobody thinks about that just from a fight.
‘It’s everywhere, and somewhere, we as parents, are failing these children […] It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s our responsibility,’ she said.
Wright is pictured with Karopchinsky and children. She said parents were responsible for ‘failing these children’
Wright (pictured) was described as a devoted father by his partner who loved gardening
She said her partner was a devoted father who loved the stars and gardening, and told WJZ she had been engaged to her partner for eight years.
She said the world ‘lost a light’ when he died.
The victim’s sister-in-law, Kristin Karopchinsky, said: ‘I’ll never forget the sound, I’ll never forget the noise my nephews made when we had to tell them he was gone.’
They family are planning a candlelit vigil in the memory of Christopher Wright.
Detectives from the Homicide Unit are actively investigating the incident and ask that anyone with information contact them at (410) 222-4731 or the Anne Arundel County Police Tip Line at (410) 222-4700.
