A Maryland father who was beaten to death outside his own home while trying to protect his 14-year-old son had posted a heartbreaking message on Facebook just weeks before his untimely death.

In his last post on May 5, Christopher Wright shared a text image showing his avatar floating in a pool with the message: ‘No matter how good or bad your life is, wake up each day and be thankful you still have one.’

He captioned it: ‘Just a thought.’

But that thought came just two weeks before Wright, 43, was killed while trying to defend his son from a group of bullies.

The brutal beating was caught on camera, but Anne Arundel County police say they do not have any suspects in custody.

Wright, the father of three sons, was said to be protecting his middle child when he was pummeled to the ground

Just two weeks before, Wright posted an eerie message on Facebook saying he is grateful for his life

Tracy Karopchinsky, Wright’s fiancée, said the fight happened on May 19 when students from the same middle school as their 14-year-old son, Trenton, looked to fight him over $30. 

She said three teenagers and two adults appeared at their home, and one of the adults said that if Trenton wouldn’t fight, his father would have to.

Disturbing videos showed Wright being body slammed to the ground and repeatedly punched in the head as his son watched on aimlessly.

He suffered a traumatic brain injury and died a day later. 

In a clip of the attack, the assailants are met with the dad in a standoff – as Wright, wearing a white T-shirt, is seen speaking and pointing to his left during the interaction on his property.  

Wright exchanged words with the group on his front lawn – before throwing a punch at a man in a black t-shirt.

The dad then retreated back and headed towards his home as the swarm of attackers pushed forward and began beating him.

Seconds later, the man in the black T-shirt slammed Wright to the ground in between two vehicles and launched a tirade of punches at his head as he lays motionless on the road.

Meanwhile, another fight broke out on the sidewalk but it remains unclear the identities of those people. 

It was only when another person checked on Wright – who was still lying unconscious on the tarmac – that the group realized he was not moving.

They were then seen scattering, as someone screamed out in the background and another repeatedly shouted: ‘What the f**k.’ 

Two more people in the group went to check on Wright again, seemingly examining his head, before the rest walked back to their vehicle and fled the scene.

The attackers told his 12-year-old son who watched the ordeal: ‘I’m sorry, call 911,’ DailyMail.com previously revealed.  

Photos revealed that remnants of Wright’s blood still stained the ground outside the family’s home despite neighbors’ efforts to clean it up before Kaporchinsky returned from work.

Tracy Karopchinsky, Wright’s fiancée, said the fight occurred when students from the same middle school as their 14-year-old son, Trenton, looked to fight him over $30

Security footage posted online shows the father-of-three being slammed to the ground

The attackers – comprising three teenagers and two adults – continued to punch Wright, who was already unconscious and bleeding out after being body slammed on to the ground

The group of people can be seen huddling around Wright’s body, which is laying on the concrete after he was body slammed by one of the group

Wright’s family has since identified some of those involved, but Anne Arundel County Police say no arrests have yet been made in the case.

The homicide squad is reviewing footage from at least two Ring doorbell cameras showing different angles across the street, including one shot showing Wright throwing the first punch.

That places police in a difficult position as they attempt to establish who was the aggressor. 

But Karopchinsky, 44, has said police already knew Wright threw the first punch.

She insists, however, that had the perpetrators not come to their house looking for trouble, the tragic incident would have never occurred.

‘It was never a secret Chris threw the first punch. Homicide detectives knew Chris threw the first punch,’ she previously told The New York Post. ‘If [Wright’s killers] didn’t come to our house looking for a fight, this never would have happened.’

The grieving mother explained that Wright told the group their son would not be fighting, to which they are said to have replied: ‘If he’s not going to fight, then you’re going to fight us.’

Wright was then horrifically beaten by the group and had his head repeatedly slammed against the concrete outside his home as his 12-year-old son watched. 

Karopchinsky told DailyMail.com that the attackers continued hitting the father even after he lay unconscious – and they told his kid to call 911 before getting in the car and leaving.  

She said: ‘It did not seem like the attack was long, our last text message to each other was around 4:30pm and I was getting a phone call at 5:30pm that he was being loaded into an ambulance.

‘According to one of my sons, he looked over and seen his dad was laying on the ground and not moving and the guy was still fighting him and hitting him as Chris lay there.

‘Then he heard him [the attacker] say ‘Oh my god he is bleeding’, he handed my son Chris’ necklaces that had somehow come off and said, ‘I am sorry, call 911’.

‘My youngest son came out screaming and they got into their car and left.’

Tracy also said that after the group appeared at her house, they grabbed something from the trunk. She said: ‘My son saw a boy get something out of the trunk, he didn’t know what it was.’

Kaporchinsky, 44, insists that if the assailants had not come to their house her fiancée would still be alive

Wright was the father to Tryston, Trenton and Tevin. Trenton had been in multiple fights at school before the group tried to approach him at home

Wright’s son Trenton had been in multiple fights at school before the group tried to approach him at home. He was suspended from school on Monday following a separate fight. 

One of the fights, which occurred on Wednesday, was over $30. A kid, who was not related to the fatal attack, is said to have come up to Trenton at school and said: ‘I stole $30 from your girlfriend.’

The 14-year-old boy then tried to get the $30 back and hit the teenager.

Karopchinsky said: ‘He had the money in his hands. Trenton went to get the money and in reaction, hit the kid. He hit him once and that was the end of it.’

Recalling the hours before the horror, Karopchinsky told DailyMail.com: ‘My son went to school, Chris had to reinstate him as he had been suspended for something different. He was involved in multiple fights throughout the day, somebody came into his classroom to fight, and a teacher had to pull the kid off him.

‘He made it through, came home, went upstairs to tell his older brother what was happening throughout the day. They heard voices outside from their bedroom upstairs and the boys were outside, these were my son’s friends prior to the incident.

‘Their dad went inside and said your friends are here, he told them these aren’t my friends. Chris came outside, he told them he is not coming out to fight you. They said if he doesn’t come out, we are coming inside the house and we are going to fight them in there.

‘Chris told them he is not coming out and you are not coming into my house. Then they said well you are going to fight.

‘They started to fight, and the end result was Chris was not walking away.’

‘These kids are fourteen years old and had two adults, family members of the kids. The police have all the people’s names, I know the investigation is a process and the police are actively involved and are doing everything.

‘The school is taking all their actions, my kids are not going back to school, it is done. These kids are going to high school next year. I’ve spoken to the high school about the next steps.

‘[Trenton’s] guilt is beyond measure, he feels like this is his fault so just helping him through the loss of his dad and also letting him know this is not your fault.

‘He had no reason to fight these people and he didn’t want to. When he got to shock trauma, they said he had severe damage to the right side of his brain, by the end of it it had become a catastrophic brain injury.

‘He had a stroke, brain bleeding at the brainstem and that was it.’

Wright suffered from a catastrophic brain injury and had a stroke while lying in the hospital

Wright’s family has since identified some of those involved, but Anne Arundel County Police say no arrests have yet been made in the case

Karopchinsky said she was at work when the fight happened. Her neighbor called her manager to let her know what happened. 

‘I came to the phone and she said, “Chris has been in a fight, he was beaten bad, it was really bad,” she said. ‘I was having kind of a panic attack, I couldn’t breathe. I was terrified.’

Wright was taken to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on his brain.

‘He had severe brain damage,’ Karopchinsky explained. ‘The surgery lasted about three-and-a-half hours. By the time I was taken to him, his severe brain injury had turned into a catastrophic brain injury.

‘After the surgery, they were doing constant CAT scans and they had stopped some bleeding in the brain, but then they saw he’d had a stroke and had bleeding from the brain stem they couldn’t do anything about.’

‘I went home to talk to the boys. I told them, “It’s very bad.” Teenage boys didn’t really understand what “very bad” meant.’

She also told how his three boys went to say goodbye to him in the hospital while he lay comatose.

‘I told the boys we had to go to the hospital,’ she told The Post. ‘I let the boys go in and talk to him and tell him they loved him. He had no brain function at that point.’

‘I just wanted the boys to be able to talk to him, tell him they loved him and that they’d see him later. It was tough.’

‘I laid in bed with my fiancée all day on Saturday and I held his hands,’ she said.

Wright, who was described as a ‘Mr. Mom,’ has already been cremated, and the family are planning to celebrate his life during a memorial on June 11

Chris, who was the father to Tryston, Trenton and Tevin, has already been cremated, and the family are planning to celebrate his life during a memorial on June 11.

Neighbor Richard Balsamo, 58, said: ‘Chris was a good guy. He didn’t bother nobody. He stayed on his porch he took care of his yard, he took care of his kids. For someone to come down here and take him from his girlfriend and his kids, it’s ridiculous and wrong and something needs to be done. 

‘It’s shocked the neighborhood. He’s a very good guy and very good to his kids.’ 

A GoFundMe has been set up by his sister in law, Kristin Karopchinsky who explained Wright had gone out to defend his son Trenton who had been threatened.

She said in her fundraiser, which has so far raised over $55,000, that he was beaten in the head before it was slammed on the concrete repeatedly.

Officials from the school acknowledged the fight had taken place and said that they worked to address the issue.

They are working with the police on the investigation.

Karopchinsky stressed the devastating effects the death of her husband would have on her children, and the children who attacked him.

She said: ‘They didn’t just ruin our lives. Their lives are going to be changed forever. Their parents’ lives are going to be changed forever, and nobody thinks about that just from a fight.  

‘It’s everywhere, and somewhere, we as parents, are failing these children […] It’s not the school’s responsibility. It’s our responsibility,’ she said.

Anne Arundel County police said they are investigating and that charges could be filed against the individuals involved.

Anne Arundel County police spokesman Marc Limansky said: ‘Anyone who assisted who abetted or was an accomplice of the main suspect or the primary suspect will be culpable.’

Detectives say they expect to make an arrest within the next week.