This Military Vet is Being Taken Off Life Support Over a Parking Lot Dispute, and the Details Are Horrifying

A Texas family was robbed of their chance to spend the holidays with their elderly relative after an alleged attack left him with fatal injuries. The family said what the alleged attacker did to him “wasn’t even human.”

Earl Hollins, an 80-year-old military veteran from Houston, was admitted into the hospital with critical injuries the evening of Dec 6. Moments beforehand, family members tell ABC13 he had gotten into a violent encounter with a man, 57-year-old Anthony Boyce. Police said they thought the incident was a flopped robbery attempt. However, they found the two men were in a disagreement over a parking spot outside of Food Town before things escalated.

Investigators with the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said Hollins and Boyce were acquaintances, having run into each other from time to time around that particular supermarket.

Though, this time, the encounter was much more intense. Police say Boyce allegedly attacked Hollins in a brutal beating before taking off in his truck.

“What he (did), it wasn’t right...it wasn’t human,” said Hollins’ niece, Elma Hollins-Washington, per the report.

As a result of the beating, his family told ABC13 Hollins suffered severe head trauma and slipped into a coma. However, he was not expected to survive his injuries. His family took him off life support Saturday night and he was pronounced dead.

Police said Boyce was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with serious bodily injury. However, given Hollins’ death, the charges are expected to be upgraded. He’s being held on a $200,000 bond at Harris County Jail, per the county sheriff’s office.

As for Hollins’ family, they tell ABC13 they are still in disbelief that a simple parking space ultimately led to such a tragedy. They remembered him as a loving father and grandfather with tons of stories to share from over his life - much to kind to have been the victim of what they considered “an act of hate,” per the report.

“He was one of a kind. I mean, to know him, you have to love him. He was an easygoing person, and he was friendly,” Hollins-Washington said to ABC.