A good Samaritan was critically injured after he offered to pay for the food a homeless person was stealing and the man responded by bludgeoning him with a hatchet in a West Hollywood attack recorded on surveillance video.

The horrific incident unfolded Saturday about 4 a.m. at a 7-Eleven store on Santa Monica Boulevard where the victim saw the transient shoplifting and said he would pay for the items, according to a Facebook post by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Sheriff’s officials called what happened next brutal and unbelievable.

Instead of accepting the generous offer, the man became enraged and a struggle ensued.

He is then seen walking outside the store holding a bag and taking a few steps back as the victim comes out right behind him. The suspect then immediately produces a double-sided hatchet and violently swings it at the man who is knocked to the ground.

The attacker then hits the him again and again and again and again. Another man is then seen coming outside where he appears to yell at the assailant.

The man with the hatchet then walks away but he comes back again and strikes the victim at least two more times before he walks off.

The witness makes a phone call as two other men run up and try to help the badly wounded victim.

Sheriff’s officials posted the video and a photo of the man online and, on Tuesday, the department announced they had made an arrest in the case.

Kisu Brown, 41, was taken into custody after he was found not far from where the attack took place. He was booked into jail on charges of attempted murder and is being held on $500,000 bail.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Bishop said the victim was a “decent citizen” trying to help someone down on their luck.

"What you think you’re doing is a nice and generous thing, and somebody just takes it out on you like this. [It’s] incomprehensible,” Bishop told the Los Angeles Times. “Very unfortunate.”

The injured man is said to be in critical but stable condition with a crushed skull and a severe laceration to his hand.

According to the Times, Brown has had previous convictions, including assault with a deadly weapon.

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