Albuquerque police have arrested a man suspected of severely beating another man during a fight in front of a homeless services provider Downtown in late February. 

The victim, Mark Lavine, died a couple weeks later.

Jose Gracia, 54, was arrested Wednesday. He is charged with an open count of murder. Both he and Lavine were clients of HopeWorks, which works with the homeless population.

It is unclear if Gracia has an attorney. 

An Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson said Gracia, who uses a wheelchair, approached Lavine in front of the Hope Village, which provides permanent housing for those with “mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder who have experienced chronic homelessness.”

“According to witnesses and surveillance video from a nearby business, Gracia maneuvered his wheelchair close to Lavine, reached up with his left hand, grabbed Lavine by the shirt near his neckline, and lunged at Lavine with force,” Gilbert Gallegos, the APD spokesperson, wrote in a news release. “He struck Lavine in the face with his right hand, blindsiding him while Lavine was looking in another direction. Lavine fell to the ground, landing on his back. Gracia removed himself from the wheelchair, assumed a kneeling position over Lavine and struck Lavine several times with his right hand.”

The manager of HopeWorks — which runs Hope Village — told detectives that she was aware of the fight and that Gracia had been banned from the organization for a week, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court. And a security guard told detectives the fight had started because Lavine had yelled at Gracia’s chihuahua. 

Lavine was taken to the hospital with severe injuries and was unconscious when officers arrived. On March 15, a family member told police they had decided to take him off life support.