Man with special needs attacked while working at Philly gas station, police seek suspect

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Man with special needs attacked at work, Philadelphia police and his family seek a suspect

Kelly Rule reports from Temple University Hospital

A man with special needs attacked while working at a local gas station.

He has reunited with his parents after more than a week in the hospital. Kenny Farrell III gets to go home to Levittown, but not back ot life as he knew it.

“His brain is already special to begin with. What kind of damage does this do to someone in his condition? We don’t know,” said Kenneth Farrell, Jr., Kenny’s dad.

His parents tell FOX 29 the 28-year-old with Asperger syndrome works at the Speedway convenience store on Aramingo Avenue in Port Richmond. They say he struggles socially, but the job has made him open up more.

Kenneth Farrell, Jr. says his son called him from work around 8 a.m. Sunday, October 25th saying someone hit him with a plexiglass shield installed to protect employees from COVID-19 and that he had called 911.

“We don’t know who did this. We don’t know why,” Farrell, Jr. remarked.

Kenneth says doctors at Temple University Hospital first told them Kenny just needed stitches, but a few hours later, he crashed.

His parents say he ended up having a fractured skull that was actually leaning on a part of his brain.

They say Kenny had to undergo a six-hour brain surgery to insert a steel plate and screws and was in a coma for three days.

“He looked horrible. There were so many small fragments. Some of his skull is actually missing. They couldn’t put it back together,” Kenneth explained.

“We had to go from thinking he needed stitches to seeing him so broken. It was just very hard, very hard,” Phyllis Farrell, Kenny’s mom, added.

Kenny’s parents believe there are cameras throughout the store. Philadelphia police could not comment on video, but say they believe the person responsible is a man in his 30s who left in a white pickup truck southbound on Aramingo.

“They need to pay for what they did. They caused a lot of damage to my son,” Phyllis said.

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