Dad Tragically Beaten to Death After Defending Son in School Fight

43-year-old Christopher Michael Wright was tragically beaten to death outside of his Maryland home by three teens and two adults who were intent on fighting Wright’s fiancée’s 14-year-old son. An altercation between the teen boy and another student at Brooklyn Park Middle School was the catalyst for Wright’s tragic death. Wright was described by his fiancée as a family man who loved gardening and looking up at the stars.

The group of five arrived at Wright’s home, demanding that the 14-year-old come out and continue the schoolyard fight. When the man told the group the boy was not coming out of the home, one of the men told Wright, “’If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight.’” Wright was then brutally beaten by the group of five and died from a traumatic brain injury after being taken to the hospital this past Saturday.

Man Dies After Vicious Beating Outside His Home

Wright’s fiancée, Tracy Karopchinsky, spoke to WBAL-TV about the devastation her family faces following the fatal attack. She said, “Just looking at the damage that was done to him, that wasn’t just punching that did that. Like, there’s no way that punching did that. The damage was done before the ambulance ever took him away. I mean, he’d had a seizure. It was done. There was nothing that the hospital could do.”

Wright was the father of three young children, and Karopchinsky reveals all of the children were at home during the brutal attack. She added, “My dad and I tried to go onto the camera to look, and the first video that comes up is my 12-year-old son screaming, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,’ and running out of the house into the street to go help his dad. And I couldn’t watch any more after that. I just couldn’t.” 

An investigation is currently underway, but no one has been arrested as of yet. Karopchinsky shared that she believes this horrific event has upended more than just the lives of her family members. She said, “They didn’t just ruin our lives. Their lives are going to be changed forever. Their parents’ lives are going to be changed forever, and nobody thinks about that just from a fight. It is everywhere, and somewhere, we as parents are failing these children as parents. It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s our responsibility.”

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