Maryland police announce arrest after dad beaten to death protecting child after schoolyard fight

Police in Maryland announced Wednesday the arrest of a suspect in the May beating death of a father who sustained life-threatening injuries while defending a child after a schoolyard fight.

Suspect Trevor Taylor faces charges of manslaughter, three counts of second-degree assault, affray and disorderly conduct after the attack on Christopher Wright, according to a Anne Arundel County Police Department statement.

“The facts of this case were presented to the State’s Attorney’s Office for review,” it said. “After consultation with the State’s Attorney, homicide detectives applied for charges for Trevor Garrett Taylor in the death of Mr. Christopher Wright.”

“Mr. Taylor was served on [a] warrant and is currently at Central Holding & Processing in Annapolis,” police added.

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Wright, 43, died on May 20. The day before, police say they “responded for a report of an assault that just occurred in the 300 block of Arundel Road West in Brooklyn” and “During their investigation officers learned that suspects arrived at the victim’s residence in reference to an earlier altercation.”

“A physical altercation ensued and during that altercation, the victim sustained life-threatening injuries,” police added. “On May 20, 2023, at approximately 9:45 p.m., the victim succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased at the hospital.”

Wright had refused to let the two adults and three teens who approached his home on May 19 to speak with his fiancee’s son, Fox News Digital previously reported.

The boy, 14, had gotten in a fight at Brooklyn Park Middle School with another teen, and they wanted to continue the fight after school, but Wright told them he was not going to let them fight with the boy. His fiancee, Tracy Karopchinsky, told 11 News that the suspects then turned their attention on Wright, telling him that if the boy would not fight, they would fight with him instead.

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Brooklyn Park Middle School is where the fight between two teens started, later turning into the lethal assault on a parent. (Google Maps)

When police arrived at the scene that night, they found Wright already receiving treatment from county fire department personnel.

Responders rushed Wright to a local trauma center for treatment of life-threatening injuries.

Police have said they are treating the incident as a homicide and have asked anyone with information to contact them. Police listed the suspects as three to four White males in their mid-20s to mid-30s in age.

“Anyone who assisted who abetted or was an accomplice of the main suspect or the primary suspect will be culpable,” Anne Arundel County Police spokesperson Marc Limansky previously told local news of the investigation.  

The school confirmed the fight to 11 News, and Karopchinsky told the outlet about how her 12-year-old had tried to run out into the street to help Wright but was “too late.”

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The Anne Arundel County Police Department said Wednesday that it is continuing to investigate the case. (Anne Arundel County Police Department)

“Just looking at the damage, that wasn’t just punching that did that,” Karopchinsky said. “Like, there’s no way that punching did that. The damage was done before the ambulance ever took him away.”

“He’d had a seizure. It was done,” she added. “There was nothing the hospital could do.”

Fox News’ Peter Aitken contributed to this report.