Homeless man nabbed for beatings, robberies

Police have arrested a homeless man for several brutal beatings in North Philly.

Marcus Jones, 22, was charged with attempted murder, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, theft and recklessly endangerment  for allegedly attacking three people in separate incidents Tuesday and Wednesday.

In the first case, police found a 53-year-old woman unconscious and bleeding heavily from head wounds just after 1 p.m. Tuesday on Watts Street near Poplar. She was taken to Hahnemann University Hospital, where she remains critical condition. Detectives who reviewed video from nearby security cameras saw a dreadlocked man repeatedly punch and kick the woman until she fell unconscious onto the ground, where he then stomped her head several times. The attacker then grabbed her purse and ran away on Watts Street towards Girard Avenue, police said.

When investigators canvassed the area Wednesday to find witnesses, a 61-year-old man told them that a dreadlocked man had robbed and beaten him earlier that day on the same block, police said. That victim told police he'd just seen his attacker and directed them to Broad Street near Poplar, where officers found Jones and arrested him. The second victim told police Jones had also beaten a third victim, a 48-year-old man, about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on Carlisle near Poplar. That man, who was treated at Hahnemann for deep cuts around his eye, told police Jones punched him repeatedly and tried to stomp his head too.