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Father dies following brutal attack over his tattoos, Wisconsin family says

A 39-year-old man died of his injuries following an attack over tattoos, reports say.
A 39-year-old man died of his injuries following an attack over tattoos, reports say. Patti Pearson/Facebook Screengrab

Loved ones are mourning the loss of a Wisconsin man — a “son, brother, husband, father, relative & friend to so many” — after he spent weeks in the hospital following a brutal attack.

Joshua Davies, 39, was attacked over his tattoos outside of Tabi’s Lake Country Wine & Bar on June 17, WISN reported. Friends told officers he had been trying to leave the bar to get away from someone who confronted him.

But Kevin Sehmer, 64, followed Davies outside while “screaming about God and tattoos,” according to WISN. The witnesses said he then punched Davies to the ground, leaving him unconscious after his head hit concrete.

A group of people flagged a Hartland police officer down at about 11 p.m. that night, according to a July 13 news release from the department.

The officer found Davies “lying on the sidewalk going in and out of consciousness,” police said. He was rushed to a hospital with critical injuries.

Sehmer was arrested the next day, police said, then charged with a felony count of aggravated battery.

Over the next several weeks, Davies was treated for a traumatic brain injury, his mother Patti Pearson said on Facebook.

“The suffering and pain my brother endured for the last 26 days was not his fault,” sister Jamie Davies told FOX6.

He died of his injuries at 2:19 a.m. Wednesday, July 12, police said.

“This was a tragic, horrific, senseless, heinous act that has now taken my brother’s life,” Jamie Davies told FOX6, adding that Sehmer did not know her brother.

She said her brother had tattoos he designed, and they were “absolutely nothing that would be offensive to anyone,” according to the outlet.

“No one should ever have to go through what he did! I can’t even express into words how I feel,” Pearson wrote on Facebook. “As a family we (mourn) his loss & will do our best to stay strong through all this, just as strong as Josh was through all this! We will hold his legacy up high in knowing the life he lived and all the wonderful memories we all have!

“Josh is now an incredible and amazing guardian angel,” she continued. “It will never be the same here without him!”

An investigation into the attack is ongoing, police said. Prosectors told FOX6 they are considering additional charges.

Court records show a preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 31.

Hartland is a suburb of Milwaukee.

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Kaitlyn Alatidd
McClatchy DC
Kaitlyn Alatidd is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter based in Kansas. She is an agricultural communications & journalism alumna of Kansas State University.
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