A 92-year-old man, beaten with bricks in the street, says to "return to his country"

A 92-year-old man who was thrown to the ground, trampled by strangers and told him to "return to his country" on July 4, was recovering Tuesday in his home in Los Angeles.

"Who would do that to anyone?" The grandson of the man, Rodolfo Rodriguez, told NBC Los Angeles

"A 92-year-old elder, what can he do to anyone?" another grandson, Erik Mendoza, added. "

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department launched an investigation following the Wednesday night attack in the Willowbrook community

Rodriguez was out alone for his daily walk, says Mendoza, about an hour and a half before going to see the holiday fireworks with his family

L & Perhaps a man met a little girl, said Misbel Borjas, at NBC Los Angeles.He said she saw a woman with the girl push Rodriguez and beat him with a brick.

wife also told Rodriguez, a Mexican native and legal resident of the United States, to "return to his country," according to Borjas.Borjas had driven, she said, and wanted to stop, but the woman threatened to hit her car with brick.

Borjas instead called 911 and took a picture of the f emme, that she shared with the police and put on social media.

Borjas said that a group of men then went down the street, and the woman accused Rodriguez of trying to pick up the child. It was then that three of them started beating him, she added.

Later, when Rodriguez's family began to wonder why he had not returned, they learned that he had two broken ribs and a broken cheekbone. , now recovered from his bed at home, told NBC Los Angeles that he wants his attackers to be punished and pay his hospital fees.

"It was their fault," he said in Spanish, "they have me thrown to the ground"

His wife, meanwhile, said that Rodriguez was planning to return to his homeland this month – but it was to visit the grave of their son who had just died

"We just lost our son". she said in Spanish through tears, "and to see it as it was unbearable."