An Arizona father faces charges after allegedly fatally beating a man who tried to enter his teenage daughter’s bathroom stall in a Phoenix convenience store earlier this month.
The incident took place after 40-year-old Melvin Harris went to the QuikTrip near Dunlap and 19th Avenues to pick up his daughter and her friends around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 2, Phoenix television station KNXVreported Tuesday, citing police.
When Harris parked his car in the lot, a man approached and asked him for money; Harris gave him an undisclosed amount, and the man went inside the store.
Sometime later, Harris was informed that a man had tried to enter the bathroom stall his daughter was using. The teen told an employee, who in turn alerted an on-duty security guard.
The man exited the store and was pointed out to Harris, who realized it was the same individual he had given money to earlier. Harris went into the store and told the security guard that “he needed to take care of the situation, or [Harris] would do it himself.”
The guard told Harris he would handle it, the station reported.
According to witnesses, Harris later approached the man and punched him in the face. Witnesses also told police that Harris stood over him, hitting him in the face several more times, and also allegedly kicked and stomped him.
The father then left the area, but police identified and located Harris at his nearby home.
He told officers during an interview that the man punched him first, hitting him in the neck, KNXV reported. Harris denied striking the man when he was down.
The unidentified man was taken to the hospital with a brain injuries and broken nose. He later died.
Harris has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the incident, according to the station.
He is being held on $100,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday, according to KSAZ, another TV station in Phoenix.