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Parents Beg For Help After Son Beaten

HAZLETON — An act of violence in Hazleton has parents pleading for help to find those responsible for a savage beating earlier this week that left their s...

HAZLETON -- An act of violence in Hazleton has parents pleading for help to find those responsible for a savage beating earlier this week that left their son in critical condition.

Andrew "A.J." Goryl, 33, is spending his birthday in the hospital in critical condition with skull fractures, a broken jaw, and more after being found savagely beaten early Sunday morning in Hazleton.

"What did my son do so bad to deserve this? That's all I'm asking. What did he do to get this, that he's lying there, fighting for his life?" asked Andrew Goryl the victim's father.

Goryl's parents, along with Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea, attended a crime watch meeting Thursday night in Hazle Township pleading for the community's help.

Police are still trying to piece together what may have happened, but say A.J. was found beaten and robbed on Lafayette Court.

"A.J., if he was being robbed, he would hand you his wallet and ask 'do you want my pants too? I'll give them to you.' That's the kind of person he was," said Goryl.

"He's a good kid with a good job who doesn't deserve to have had this happen to him. He wasn't doing anything bad, in a bad area of town. He ended up somewhere and this ended up happening," said Hazleton Police Chief Frank DeAndrea.

DeAndrea says Goryl's parents used to run a crime watch group in the city. Now victims of a crime themselves, the Goryls, along with DeAndrea, say people who live in the area have to help keep the streets safe.

"Everybody get involved, please, because I don't want anybody here in this room or wherever the viewing area is, to have to sit here like I do and say 'this is a picture of my son or my daughter,' because it could happen to you people," said Goryl. "Get these guys, get them off the street, put them in jail where they belong and get them the hell out of our town."

Police continue to look for A.J. Goryl's attackers. Chief DeAndrea says he will meet with members of the Guardian Angels, an unarmed citizens watch group at the corner of Broad and Wyoming Streets Friday to patrol the area.

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