{"id":282317,"date":"2026-04-23T17:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282317\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:32:09","slug":"dementia-patient-beaten-set-on-fire-and-killed-in-downtown-l-a-prosecutors-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/282317\/","title":{"rendered":"Dementia patient beaten, set on fire and killed in downtown L.A., prosecutors say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A wandering dementia patient died Monday after a homeless man in downtown Los Angeles punched and kicked him in the head, slammed him to the ground and set him on fire, prosecutors said Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>Bang Cho, 84, died in a hospital the day after the assault. The suspect, Lavonta Wilder, 40, has been charged with murder. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case involves an elderly man who was disoriented and living with dementia, conditions that made him particularly vulnerable,\u201d Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said in a statement. \u201cThe level of violence alleged here is brutal, callous and extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cho was downtown after walking off from a convalescent home around 11:55 p.m. on Sunday when he grabbed a bag that Wilder was  holding, the prosecutor\u2019s office said. Wilder, who is unhoused and weighs 240 pounds, \u201cviciously\u201d punched and kicked Cho\u2019s head and body, lifted him over his shoulder and slammed him to the ground and then set him on fire, the office said. <\/p>\n<p>            <img class=\"image\" alt=\"Video screen grab of police detaining a man\"   width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776965529_665_.jpeg\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>         <\/p>\n<p>Police detain a man in the death of a dementia patient in downtown Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>(KNN)<\/p>\n<p>Cho died at a hospital the following day. Wilder was arrested near the scene. <\/p>\n<p>If convicted, Wilder could face life in prison. He is being held at the Men\u2019s Central Jail in lieu of $2-million bail. He is scheduled for arraignment on May 21. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A wandering dementia patient died Monday after a homeless man in downtown Los Angeles punched and kicked him&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[10479,121325,121327,217,121326,5788,3802,7775,36294,1583,48,52,51,121324,47,50,49,63,346,7214,2429],"class_list":{"0":"post-282317","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-atty","9":"tag-bang-cho","10":"tag-central-jail","11":"tag-day","12":"tag-dementia-patient","13":"tag-downtown-l-a","14":"tag-fire","15":"tag-ground","16":"tag-head","17":"tag-hospital","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-la-headlines","20":"tag-la-news","21":"tag-lavonta-wilder","22":"tag-los-angeles","23":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","24":"tag-los-angeles-news","25":"tag-los-angeles-times","26":"tag-office","27":"tag-prosecutor","28":"tag-thursday"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}