By Jessica Holly, Samantha Sosa, Kathleen Ditton, Kevin Boulandier

    MIAMI (WSVN) -- A 54-year-old man was arrested after, police said, he struck an elderly man in a wheelchair with a tequila bottle and attempted to assault his caretaker in South Beach, police said.

The attack occurred Saturday afternoon around 5:15 p.m. following the Hyundai Air and Sea Show at South Pointe Park.

The elderly man’s caretaker recalled the brutal attack to 7News on Wednesday.

“It was a bloodbath. The poor thing in his wheelchair, I feel helpless myself not able to do anything,” said the caregiver.

The caregiver said she and the elderly wheelchair-bound military veteran, who did not want to be identified, were leaving the show when they heard a man, identified as Erik Stephen Dufresne, screaming.

“I am going to kill the lesbians, I am going to kill the gays, I am going to kill the pedophilia,” recalled the caregiver.

Then Dufresne, who is originally from Rhode Island but is listed as homeless, struck.

“All of a sudden he ran on top and ‘bang,’ hit on his face and right on his nose,” said the caregiver. “I said, ‘What are you doing man? You are an animal.’ That’s all that came to me and I got in shock.”

Despite the elderly man’s broken nose, the attack didn’t end there. Dufresne tried attacking the caregiver but the victim “put his arm out to block the strike and the defendant struck him again,” according to the arrest report.

“And then this man came back and broke the bottle on his head, and I started screaming for help, ‘Help on my way. Help! Help! Call the police, call the police,'” said the caregiver. “He’s strong, no matter that he’s in a wheel chair, he went like this to protect me!”

She said three young men intervened and stopped the attack. They knocked Dufresne to the ground, where he would stay until officers arrived.

“Thanks to those three angels. Young men that were around,” said the caregiver.

The victim suffered multiple lacerations and swelling but declined transport to the hospital after being treated on the scene by Miami Beach Fire Rescue.

Photos, shared with 7News, shows the elderly man drenched in blood.

According to the arrest report, once cuffed, Dufresne “made a spontaneous statement that he was going to kill pedophiles.”

The 54-year-old has countless social media pages that range from poetry to politics and rants about pedophiles and violent criminals.

Dufresne was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center for evaluation before being booked into jail.

“I think that this man should be kept in jail for good. He violently attacked us, violently” said the caregiver.

He was charged with aggravated battery of an elderly person with a deadly weapon. He is being held without bond.

The victim told 7News off camera that he is glad the his injuries weren’t worse.

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