SHANE SU­PERVILLE

Se­nior Re­porter

A 36-year-old Cara­po man was beat­en to death while lim­ing near his home on Tues­day night.

Po­lice said around 9:22 pm, dou­bles ven­dor Dar­ren Fran­cis and a friend were lis­ten­ing to mu­sic from his white Mit­subishi Lancer on Race Course Road, Cara­po, when they were ap­proached by two masked men, one of whom was hold­ing a piece of iron.

One of the men struck Fran­cis, caus­ing him to run.

How­ev­er, the at­tack­ers chased Fran­cis and con­tin­ued to beat him, be­fore es­cap­ing through a near­by track.

Ari­ma po­lice were called in and found Fran­cis' body with wounds to his head.

A Dis­trict Med­ical Of­fi­cer was called in, who de­clared Fran­cis dead.

A car, be­lieved to be Fran­cis' Mit­subishi Lancer, al­so was found on fire near­by.

Ari­ma Fire Of­fi­cers were called in and ex­tin­guished the blaze.

Re­gion II Homi­cide in­ves­ti­ga­tors are con­tin­u­ing en­quiries.