Matt Hamilton, Los Angeles Times, April 29, 2015

A 22-year-old man was charged Wednesday with attempted murder and a hate crime after police say he beat a man in Rialto with a baseball bat out of a desire to hurt someone who is not African American.

About 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jeremiah Bell encountered 54-year-old Armando Barron and struck him several times in the head with a bat, according to Sgt. Paul Stella of the Rialto Police Department.

The attack was “unprovoked” and “anyone who was not black was a target,” Stella said.

Barron remains hospitalized in grave condition, Stella said. The attack has left him paralyzed and comatose due to extensive brain injuries, according to the criminal complaint against Bell filed by the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.

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