CHARGED WITH MURDER Victim Dies; Suspect Now Faces Murder Charges
Reported by: Bethany Simmons
Web Producer: Bethany Simmons
Reported: May. 3, 2012 8:49 AM EDT
Updated: May. 4, 2012 2:20 PM EDT
Eyewitness News Photo
Athens County
, Ohio
The victim in a brutal beating in Ohio has died. Athens County, Ohio Sheriff Patrick Kelly says Harley Aaron Pruitt, 20, of Buchtel, died Friday afternoon just before 2pm at Grant Hospital in Columbus.
Deputies found Pruitt on Wednesday unconscious and not breathing after he was allegedly attacked by another man. Sheriff Kelly says that suspect - Gary Wooton, also 20, of Glouster, was arrested on Tuesday.
Detectives say people who knew both the victim and the suspect were involved in some sort of altercation four years ago when they were both students in high school.
We're told that a number of people were there on Wednesday when their latest confrontation turned into a vicious fist fight.
Pruitt's body has been sent off for autopsy. Wooton was originally charged with felonious assault, but as of Friday afternoon, those charges have been upgraded to murder. He remains in jail on $50,000 dollars bond.
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The suspect in a brutal beating in Athens County, Ohio is now in police custody.
According to a release from Athens Sheriff Patrick Kelly, deputies arrested Gary Wooton, 20, of Glouster late Wednesday night. He is charged with felonious assault.
Sheriff Kelly says Wooten allegedly assaulted Harley Aaron Pruitt, 20, of Buchtel, to the point of unconsciousness.
When emergency crews arrived to assist, Pruitt was not breathing. He was taken to a local hospital, then flown to a Columbus hospital where he remains in critical condition.
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Bethany Simmons
