2 More Arrests In Brutal Attack Which Put Torrance 7-Eleven Clerk In Coma
TORRANCE (CBSLA) – Two more suspects have been apprehended in connection with the brutal assault of a Torrance 7-Eleven clerk earlier this month, bringing the total number of arrests to three.
The two Long Beach men -- identified as 21-year-old William Sione Satuala and 26-year-old Sekope Tuitavuki -- were taken into custody on Jan. 20, Torrance police confirmed to CBS2 Wednesday night.
This comes after 19-year-old Jordyn Kolone was arrested on Jan. 16.
All three are charged with second-degree robbery, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office reported Thursday. Satuala is further charged with one one count of dissuading a witness by force or threat with allegations of causing great bodily injury with an injury that caused the victim to become comatose.
The three have pleaded not guilty.
In the early morning hours of Jan. 11, three suspects assaulted 51-year-old Syed Asif Ali while attempting to steal beer from a 7-Eleven located at 1730 Sepulveda Blvd.
Security video showed the suspects enter the store, steal beer and run away. When Ali ran went after them, Satuala allegedly beat him severely on his head and body, prosecutors said, then left him lying on the ground.
"They just grabbed a bottle of beer and broke it over his head, and he was just knocked out, and they continued to beat him and break bottles on him," Ali's niece Wafa Naqvi told CBS2 last week.
Ali, a father of four, suffered a fractured face, a broken skull, and a punctured lung, his family said. He had to be placed in a coma. His current condition is unknown.
If convicted as charged, Kolone faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, Satuala faces 12 years and Tuitaviku 15 years, the DA's office reported. All three were due back in court Friday.