When Jin Cheng Yu asked his father to come with him to Oakland for a quick shopping trip, Tian Sheng Yu was hesitant. Oakland is dangerous, the San Francisco resident said.

The younger Yu reassured his 59-year-old father that downtown Oakland, where the jewelry shop they planned to visit is located, was safe. On Friday, however, it was where the elder Yu suffered a beating from which he never recovered.

Yu died Tuesday, four days after he was knocked to the ground on Telegraph Avenue when he confronted two young men who had sucker-punched his son moments earlier. His relatives' sobs could be heard in his room at Highland Hospital when doctors removed him from life support, friends said.

His death came the same day police announced the arrests of two 18-year-old suspects, both of whom have arrest records as juveniles for robbery. Lavonte Drummer and Dominic Davis of Oakland were identified with the help of numerous tipsters, many of whom were outraged by the attack on the 1800 block of Telegraph Avenue, police said.

Widow's words

Just hours after her husband's death, Zhi Rui Wang, 56, her face etched with pain, thanked police, the media and the community at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center in the city's Chinatown at a gathering that was originally scheduled to support her husband. The meeting instead became a focal point for people to rally against violence, especially attacks on minorities and the elderly.

"Even though my husband is gone, I will be strong, because I want us to join together to make sure that this won't happen to another family," Wang said in Mandarin to the crowd of several hundred people. Among those in attendance were Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley and members of the City Council.

'The best father'

Yu emigrated from China with his family in 1998 and ran a painting and remodeling business. Wang described him as "a nice person, nice to everybody," who had a good sense of humor and was always happy. "I'm very sad now," she said.

Jin Cheng Yu, 27, reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, said he hoped the attackers are "punished very seriously."

"I miss my father so much," he said. "He was the best father."

Carl Chan, an Oakland Chinatown organizer who has been working with Yu's family, said of the son, "I know he's still blaming himself for asking his father to come to the city of Oakland to shop with him.

"I told them it really is not your fault," said Chan, who recounted the last moments of the elder Yu's life from conversations he had with the family.

Men held without bail

Yu, he said, was doing what "any father would do" when he confronted the two assailants and asked them why they had punched his son in the face.

The men turned on the father, knocking him to the pavement and beating him, before walking away. Yu never regained consciousness and died at 11:27 a.m. Tuesday.

Davis and Drummer are each being held without bail on suspicion of murder. Alameda County prosecutors will decide whether to file charges.

Drummer turned himself in about 5 p.m. Monday at Oakland police headquarters after a member of the clergy contacted investigators about his surrender, said Lt. Brian Medeiros of the homicide detail. His family could not be reached for comment; a woman's voice on his voice mail described him as her husband.

Davis was arrested by Oakland police as he rode a bike near Carleton and Sacramento streets in Berkeley at about 7:50 p.m. Monday. Davis, who turned 18 on Saturday, the day after the attack, didn't give up immediately but cooperated once he was stopped, police said.

"He knew he was on video, that he was on the news," Medeiros said.

Video that police released over the weekend shows two young men walking on the street near the time of the attack; investigators described them as the suspects. Police said Tuesday that they have another video that shows the actual assault.

Many called in tips

"We had numerous people who called and gave us information that led us to the capture of these suspects, and I'd like to applaud this community," Police Chief Anthony Batts said at a news conference.

"There is no room in a civilized society for this kind of maddening, violent assault upon human beings," said Mayor Ron Dellums, who joined police officials at the news conference. "It should be beyond us as people."