One man was in custody and one remained at large Thursday in connection with an assault inside an Aliquippa Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge that left a man hospitalized in an induced coma.
The family of Preston Coleman III said said he was beaten unprovoked and mercilessly, for nearly 30 minutes, late Sunday.
Coleman of Aliquippa remained hospitalized after the 52-year-old father and grandfather was punched nearly 250 times late Sunday, police said. The attack left Coleman with head injuries, brain swelling and bleeding, major fractures in his face and at least three broken ribs.
Coleman’s face and head were so swollen from the beating that surgeons cut a tracheostomy tube into his neck so he could breathe, his daughters told reporters.
“There is no excuse for what happened to my dad,” said Prashauna Coleman, 27, of Aliquippa, whose voice sometimes shook Thursday morning as she read a prepared statement.
As Coleman’s family this week made their first public comments about the attack, authorities continued the search for a suspect — Brett Ours, 39.
Also Thursday, Ronald Brown, 43, of Ambridge, turned himself into a district judge, after he was charged with aggravated assault for allegedly punching the victim, a 52-yr-old man, up to seven times in the midst of the attack, according to his attorney, Steven Valsamidis.
Brown was arraigned Thursday afternoon and is being taken to county jail, Valsamidis said. A judge set his bail at $100,000
Police filed nine criminal charges against Ours, including attempted murder of the first degree, court records show. Ours was not in custody, as of Thursday afternoon.
Three family members, who spoke with reporters at their attorney’s office in Pittsburgh, said that they believe race might have triggered the beating.
Ours is white. Coleman is Black.
“He was targeted,” said Coleman’s daughter, Taquesha Tucker, 34, of Aliquippa. “He never saw it coming.”
The family said Coleman might have been the only Black man inside the lodge at the time of the attack.
Aliquippa police and Beaver County District Attorney Nathan Bible did not return numerous phone calls and emails Thursday seeking comment.
Video footage from VFW Post 3577 on Aliquippa’s Penn Avenue caught much of what unfolded there late Sunday, police said. Graphic violence pervades the criminal complaint against Ours.
At 10:50 p.m., camera footage showed Ours sit down next to Coleman at a bar inside the lodge and begin talking, the complaint said. What he said remains unclear.
Seven minutes later, Ours, apparently without warning, started punching Coleman in the face and head, the complaint said. Coleman tried to escape — unsuccessfully — several times. At one point, Coleman gripped the bar to get off the floor but was unable to stand or defend himself.
Within minutes, police said, Coleman was “barely moving and completely defenseless.”
Ours allegedly asked his girlfriend at one point to give him his knife, footage showed, according to the complaint. She refused. So, Ours started yelling at her, then punched her in the face.
Ours returned to Coleman, bludgeoning him with a bar stool and repeatedly strangling him, the complaint said. He sat on Coleman’s chest and punched him repeatedly in the face and head. according to police.
At 11:17 p.m., Ours paused the attack to remove his shirt, which had become soaked with Coleman’s blood, the complaint said. He then resumed the beating for nearly eight more minutes, kicking Coleman in the head repeatedly.
There were at least three people inside or near the bar at the time of the attack, said attorney Steven Barth, who represents Coleman’s family. The degree of their involvement, if any, was unclear.
People inside the lodge made “multiple phone calls,” but not to 911, Barth said. He did not know Thursday who called police to report the incident.
Records show police “responded to a bar fight call” at the lodge. While en route, a 911 dispatcher said “a male inside the bar is injured and the actor has fled the scene.” Coleman later was taken via helicopter to a Pittsburgh hospital.
“It’s unreal,” said Tucker, Coleman’s daughter, who called onlookers or participants at the lodge “cowards.”
“It’s a disgrace,” she said. “And they should be held accountable as well.”
“We are coming for everybody that’s responsible,” Barth added. “There’s nothing that justifies this.”
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The family’s statement called on Beaver County’s DA to “file all appropriate criminal charges against anyone who violated the law and contributed to the horrific attack upon my father.”
Many questions continue to cloud the aftermath of the attack.
It was unclear if Coleman, whose father served in the military, was a VFW member and whether membership was required to enter the building. Coleman’s family called him “a regular” at the lodge that stands near their Aliquippa home.
The level of security at the lodge, or who was responsible for that security, also remained unclear.
Nobody answered the phone Thursday at the Aliquippa lodge.
The lodge does have a liquor license for clubs, which was issued April 3, 2024 and is active through June 30, state Liquor Control Board records show. Board officials did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.
Veterans officials, both locally and in Harrisburg, also remained mum. Multiple VFW spokespersons and leaders did not respond to inquiries. Neither did the state Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.