LONGMONT, Colo. — A suspect admitted to investigators that he attacked a man with a tree branch at a Longmont bus stop on Thursday, according to an affidavit for his arrest.
The victim died from his injuries. The Boulder County coroner on Friday identified him as Brendan Murphy, 44.
On Thursday morning, someone called 911 to report two men fighting near a bus stop in the 2100 block of Miller Drive, adjacent to the Front Range Community College, according to a Facebook post from Longmont Public Safety. The caller reported that they were following one of the men involved in the attack, who was later determined to be the suspect.
Kamaloni Manu was contacted about an hour and a half after the assault and taken into custody.
According to the arrest affidavit from Longmont Police, multiple witnesses reported that the suspect, identified as Manu, was attacking another person with a bat or stick. After the attack, they said he walked away toward Pike Street.
The assault was caught on video by cameras at the school. It shows Manu walking up to the victim who was sitting on the ground near a tree, the affidavit says. There appeared to be no provocation before Manu raised the stick above his head and struck the victim multiple times.
Once in custody, Manu agreed to speak with investigators. He claimed that he witnessed two other men fighting and said he left the area. Even when he was told that witnesses reported seeing him attack the victim, he maintained his story, according to the document.
When shown the video of the attack, Manu claimed that it showed him striking a tree and not a person, according to the affidavit. An investigator showed him the video frame by frame, and it clearly showed him striking the man.
At that time, Manu admitted he had attacked the man, the affidavit says.
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