Luis Segura, 44

Luis Segura, a 44-year-old Latino, was pronounced dead Wednesday, Aug. 26, two days after being beaten in the 13400 block of Moccasin Street in West Puente Valley, according to authorities.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were called to Segura’s neighborhood about 7 p.m. Aug. 24 when Segura’s wife reported that her husband had been assaulted outside their home and that the assailants were trying to load the man’s body into a van.

Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Robert Martindale said that when the attackers saw Segura’s wife, they ran into their house, next door to Segura’s, where they barricaded themselves for several hours. A Sheriff’s Department SWAT team forced them out with tear gas, and the men were arrested.

Segura, a house painter and father of five, was taken to a local hospital “where he was labeled as brain dead almost immediately,” Martindale said. Two doctors pronounced Segura dead at 5 p.m. on Aug. 26, Martindale said, and then his family had his organs donated.

Brothers Flavio Macias Jr., 28, and Jonathan Macias, 23, were each charged with one count of murder Aug. 27, and Flavio Macias faces the additional charge of using a hammer and paving blocks in the commission of the killing. The brothers are being held in lieu of $1 million bail and are scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 23 in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Pomona, according to Los Angeles County district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani.

Investigators are trying to understand the motive behind the attack.

“There’s nothing rational about this homicide,” Martindale said. “This has got to be one of the most troubling cases I’ve ever had.”

Before the attack, Flavio Macias and his brother had been staying at their father’s house, where they grew up, Martindale said. Martindale said they had been going to the Segura house “at all hours of the day and night” and “acting strange and asking for beer.” Martindale said Segura believed the men were gang members, and “he wanted to be respectful, so he would give them beers so they would go away.”

On the evening of the attack, Martindale said, Flavio Macias asked Segura for a beer while Segura was outside washing the family minivan.

Segura went inside his home to find cold beer. But when he returned, Martindale said, Flavio Macias attacked while his brother acted as a lookout.

Investigators found a bloodstained hammer and three bloodstained paving stones that they believe Flavio Macias used to crush Segura’s skull, Martindale said.

“It’s just unspeakable the devastation caused to this family,” Martindale said. “They have kids in college, school, sports.... It’s just turned their lives upside down.”

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. Those wishing to remain anonymous should call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.

Contact the Homicide Report. And follow @latimeshomicide on Twitter.