More than 100 friends and family showed up at a baseball field to honor Maryland dad Christopher Wright, who was killed earlier this month while protecting his son.
Gathering in a circle on a Brooklyn Park diamond Friday night, dozens held candles as Wright’s family members poured out their still-raw pain from the past week, according to local reports.
Kristin Karopchinsky, Wright’s sister-in-law, recalled the horror of having to break the news to his kids that their father had died.
“We had to go home and tell them their dad was gone,” she said, choking up. “Those cries will haunt me for the rest of my life.”
Many spoke fondly about the stay-at-home dad, calling him a devoted partner and friend.
Standing in front of a photo collage of the protective father, featuring many shots of Wright with his kids, his fiancée, Tracy Karopchinsky, called her late partner her “one and only,” and a man who deeply cared for his family.
“He would have done anything for any one of us, not just our kids,” she told the crowd, according to the Capital Gazette. “He would always have our backs.”
A friend, Louis Guarnera, told The Baltimore Banner that he was “proud” of Wright for standing up for his kid.
“Every one dies. If you’re gonna die, as a father, what’s better than protecting your family?” Guarnera said. “He really was a great person. I wouldn’t expect nothing else of him.”
Wright, 43, died from traumatic brain injuries after a petty schoolyard fight between his 14-year-old son, Trenton, and another teen over a mere $30 escalated into a confrontation at his doorstep.
On May 19, days after the scrap, three teenagers and two adults came to Wright’s house hellbent on getting revenge.
After Wright said that his son would not be coming out to fight, one of the adults responded, “If your son’s not going to fight, you’re going to fight,” Karopchinsky recalled.
Chilling video shows Wright on the street, throwing a punch toward the head of the group’s ringleader before being fatally pummeled by its members, with his body being lifted up and slammed down in the street.
At least two of Wright’s sons were believed to have seen their father being beaten, with his 11-year-old reportedly running out of the house and screaming during the fight. Wright succumbed to his injuries a day later.
The Anne Arundel Police did not respond to a request for an update. On Friday, police said they had “collected numerous pieces of physical evidence from the scene,” including camera footage, but had yet to make any arrests.