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A call to end violence against homeless

December 17, 2011|by Jim Grawe | KWCH 12 Eyewitness News

(WICHITA, Kan.) — All is peaceful along the Arkansas River near downtown Wichita on Saturday afternoon.  You'd never know that a man was found violently killed there the day before.

"I just heard about the incident that happened and it really breaks my heart to hear that," Connie Harman says.

Police are not yet releasing the man's name, but say he suffered trauma to his upper body.

Harman knew him as someone who, like her, lived on the streets and, as she has, slept near the river.

The cover provided by the bridges that cross the river make the River Walk area a popular place for homeless people to spend the night.  However, the relative seclusion of the area can also make it a dangerous place for them.

"It's scary because you have to know what's around you at all times," Harman says.

Harman says Wichita's homeless are frequently attacked, sometimes by each other, but more often by thugs who do it for fun.

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"I have some friends who were beaten up down by the river recently for sleeping down there," Harman says.  "It was just kids running around down there, nothing to do and just started beating up on them for no reason."

The man who was killed attended Mosaic Church at 216 South Market Street which is made up mostly of homeless people.

"To think we would live in a society that would allow that type of behavior and treatment of human beings is sickening," Pastor Mike Furches says.

Furches says the victim was a military veteran and new to Wichita--a quiet, harmless man who had just fallen on hard times.  Furches suspects the man was beaten and killed for kicks.

"In the last week I've heard three stories from people who tell me they've had knives pulled on them by thugs and punks walking our river," Furches says.  "They think they're something because the can beat up a homeless person."

Furches says shelters are often not pleasant places, so people take their chances sleeping outside.  He says it's time for the community to step up and do more to protect those who have the least.

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