Pocono News Section

Neighbors React to Hazleton Beating

Neighbors React to Hazleton Beating - Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 4:22PM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Sunday, Nov 16, 2008 @ 04:22pm EST

HAZLETON, LUZERNE COUNTY -- Many of the people living along Pine Street were afraid to talk after their elderly neighbors -- Martha and Nick Caputo -- were badly beaten inside their home.

Father Peter O'Rourke of St. Gabriel's Roman Catholic Church said a special prayer in mass Sunday morning. He says he prayed with the Caputos in the emergency room at the hospital.

"They were unrecognizable," O'Rourke said. "I even read them their last rights. It was bad."

"It was tragic, it was very bad," said Peter Wood, who lives in the Caputo's neighborhood. "They treat people very well, and I don't know why somebody would do something like that."

Nick Caputo helps out the homeless. He gives them a place to stay and food to eat at a boarding house he owns.

"He'll help you any time he can, and as much as he can," said one man staying at the boarding house.

The Caputo family is well-known for its many businesses, including Caputo's Ice Plant at the rear of their home. John Reyes, owner of J. R.'s Food Mart, has been buying ice from the Caputos for years.

"They're very good people. I was really, really upset about it," said Reyes. "And we all have parents and nobody wants to see something like that happen."

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta said he understands people are afraid after the brutal home invasion.

"People become fearful," said Barletta. "People should always use cation, but they should go about their daily lives and not be afraid to live their lives."

Barletta grew up down the street from the Caputos and knows them well.

"That the sad part," Barletta said," that somebody would victimize two people who lived their entire lives helping others."

"I hope they catch the people," added Wood, "and they pay for what they did."

As of Sunday afternoon, police did not have any specific suspects in mind. One of the men is white, and the other two were described as dark-skinned.

The Caputos were taken to the Lehigh Valley Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition as of 10:30 Sunday morning. The hospital is no longer releasing information on the Caputos.