19-year-old arrested after beating homeless man to death

BALTIMORE, Maryland -- A Baltimore neighborhood is on edge after a 19-year-old was accused of beating a homeless man to death on Tuesday morning.

"It's brutal. Brutal," said Gary Tuggle. "The mentality of a 19-year-old, to be so young to be so violent, it's scary."

Police say the suspect, Dion Dixon, attacked the 67-year-old Randolph Cockrell, in his sleep.

According to investigators, Dixon used a brick, his hands and his feet to beat Cockrell to a bloody pulp before dragging him down the sidewalk and leaving him to die.

As the neighborhood mourns Cockrell's death, a friend and neighbor of the victim, who did not wish to be identified, struggled with the tragedy.

"He's going to be very missed. I love the man. I can't stop crying," said the neighbor. "He's just an important part of this community right here and we're going to miss him very, very, very, very, very much."

Dixon confessed the crime to police and was arrested within 15 hours of the incident.

The announcement comes after a recent surge in shootings in the city over the last week.

Officers have been called to at least a dozen crime scenes since Saturday, with three of them containing multiple victims, including a triple shooting Friday morning.

One local man has seen enough.

"It's one of those things that just goes back to violence at any level is not acceptable."