Neighbors Shocked By Beating of 85 Year Old Man

People who live along Highway 45 in Chunchula are speaking out about the brutal beating of an 85 year old man in his front yard.
It happened in broad daylight Wednesday in the front yard of a home in the 6000 block of Highway 45.
The victim was beaten, robbed and possibly shot.
89 year old Eloise Gunter lives down the street from where 85 year old Warren Hamilton was attacked.
She said, "I just didn't know what to think. I said, 'Somebody's in trouble and it's the poor old man who lives there by himself.' "
Mobile County Sheriff's Deputies said the victim was in his front yard when an SUV pulled up, a man got out and,according to Corporal Chris McLean, "produced a weapon, and struck him in the head several times, knocking the victim to the ground. At that time, the suspect threatened to kill the victim and advised him that he wanted his money. The suspect then took the victim's wallet and fled the scene."
Deputies also said the suspect fired one shot, but Hamilton was beaten so badly that they couldn't tell if he was wounded.
Gunter said of Hamilton, "He was a real nice guy. He stayed right at home tending to his own business and everything and then, that happened to him. It just breaks your heart, I tell you it does."
Deputies said the beating happened in a driveway area.
But they also said one thing that might help solve this crime is that Highway 45 right there is a very heavily travelled road.
McLean said, "Somebody was behind this vehicle, prior to and after the robbery, so we would ask that people jog their memory think about it."
Gunter said, "We don't ever have anything like that, but, you know something? Everybody and everything is getting meaner as the days go by. They're getting meaner and meaner."
Officials at USA Medical Center said Hamilton is in stable condition.
Deputies describe the man who beat the victim as black, 5'8, with a thin build, wearing black clothing and a white visor.
They said he was a passenger in a dark colored SUV.