A 70-year-old Vietnam war veteran was beaten "within an inch of his life" Tuesday morning. Clarence "Skip" Kakart says he was sure he was going to die when he was violently attacked by 20-year-old Omarr Romance-Lomax Martin in his home at Colonial Avenue. Kakart said that he met his attacker through a friend and "he seemed fine". “He said, 'Hey Skip. How you doing?' I said, 'I ain't seen you in a while. How you doing?'" Kakart offered Martin some spaghetti that he and his roommate were eating but when his roommate left that's when Martin attacked dragging him into the bathroom by his hair with a knife to his throat.
"He took a knife to my throat then he dragged me in the bathroom by my hair, took a towel and wrapped it around my throat, banging my head, 'Give me your money. Give me your money. Give me your money.'" Once he was in the bathroom Martin used the towel he wrapped around his neck as leverage to beat Kakart's head on the wall. Kakart describes how he was beaten for more than an hour as he pretended to be knocked out.
At one point his attacker even tied him up using the cords from his oxygen machine before setting Kakart's bed on fire and leaving him to die. Kakart managed to slowly crawl towards his door and his neighbor heard his cries for help. While his apartment is in a shambles, the victim says friends are setting up a go fund me page to help pay for damages.
Source: https://www.wsls.com/news/virginia/roanoke/man-tells-story-of-attack-fire-that-nearly-killed-him
