Suspect charged with beating sleeping man to death on church steps

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee man has been arrested after allegedly beating a man to death as he slept on the church steps near 19th and Wisconsin.

It happened on March 29.

Dominic Long, 28, is charged with First Degree Intentional Homicide and Attempted First Degree Intentional Homicide.

Officers arrived on scene of the church where they located a deceased male inside of a sleeping bag. Police also found a nearby cinder block which had pieces of sleeping bag material on it.

The victim's cause of death was ruled blunt force trauma.

Officers spoke with a pastor at the church where the victim was found dead. Investigation revealed that a homeless man known to the pastor as Kevin had stored his belongings in a black plastic bag behind the church for the past five years or so. An officer located the bag which contained clothes soaked in blood.

Officers located Kevin at a bus stop shelter near 18th and Wisconsin that he frequently sleeps at. Kevin allegedly told the officers that he was sleeping in the bus shelter a few days prior when he was awakened by a man who smashed him in the head with a large rock. 

According to the criminal complaint, the man then beat Kevin with a 2x4 piece of lumber. Kevin didn't get a good look at the attacker because he was sleeping under a blanket. Kevin told police that there was no argument preceding the attack and that the attacker said nothing. Kevin told police that the attacker "tried to take his life."

Officers located video which showed the man attacking Kevin. Video also captured a man wearing the same clothes as in that attack walk up the church steps near 19th and Wisconsin where the other individual was found dead.

Police were able to identify the suspect as Long. Officers located Long inside of a library and placed him under arrest.

Long allegedly admitted to attacking both men.

Long told police that he never met or saw the person he killed on the church steps because he was inside a sleeping bag. According to the criminal complaint, Long admitted to picking up the cinder block and beating the man to death. 

Long also allegedly told police that it felt like "a job he had to do" and that he "just felt that he had to take him out."

Long will have his preliminary hearing on April 10.