Mechanic left in coma after allegedly attacked by customer who refused to pay for fixed car

KENT, Wash. — A Kent auto repair shop owner is left in a coma after his family said that he was attacked by a customer who refused to pay for their fixed vehicle.

Elvis Duran, the owner of V.M. Auto Repair on 84th Avenue South in Kent, had been working on a customer’s vehicle, but decided to keep the car after the customer refused to pay him for his services, the family told KIRO 7 News.

The customer later returned to the shop on May 8, said Katrina Ven, Duran’s daughter.

“My dad was dragged out of the shop and kicked multiple times and punched all over his head,” she said. “It broke my heart to know that a 55-year-old man thought he was going to have a regular day at work today, it was just another regular day for him, but that wasn’t the case.”

Surveillance video captured a woman and a man standing in front of the shop as a person falls to the ground.

The footage later shows the alleged suspect knocking a phone out of another person’s hand near the shop, who Ven later identified as her father’s coworker who tried to call for help.

Her father has been left in a coma ever since, she shared.

“Seeing him in a vulnerable state hurts me the most because no one deserves to see their loved one like that at all,” she said.

A hospital spokesperson told KIRO 7 News that Duran is out of the ICU and in satisfactory condition.

However, Ven said her father has not regained consciousness.

We also reached out to the Kent Police Department to gather more information. We’re still waiting to hear back.

KIRO 7 News also requested court documents from the King County Prosecutor’s Office after the daughter said the suspect allegedly had been arrested and released on bail.

We’re still waiting for further information and to confirm her statement.

Ven said she is caring for her father’s three dogs, while fighting to keep his shop open as he recovers from a traumatic brain injury, she said.

She recently celebrated her birthday and Father’s Day without her father.

“I can give up on the shop, but I choose not to. I want to keep fighting for it because I know he would do the same thing for me,” Ven said. “The person who did it gets to walk freely and gets to see his family and spend Father’s Day with his kids, while I’m suffering at the hospital with my dad praying when is he going to wake up.”

“My dad didn’t deserve what had happened to him. I feel like the assaulter who did this could have gone in many different ways, and it didn’t have to end in violence,” she added. “My dad was able to provide me with everything and anything that I wanted, so I feel like as his daughter, it’s only right for me to do the same thing for my father.”

Jason Martinez, Ven’s boyfriend, said, “We still have hope. We still think he can come back and come back to work. So, we are doing everything to save the shop so he can come back. We don’t want him to lose everything he worked for. We’re doing our best to try and save the shop.”

Ven created a GoFundMe to help pay for the shop’s monthly bills.

“My father Elvis is a business owner; he’s been a mechanic for 25+ years and is self-employed. Unfortunately, on May 8th, 2024 he was brutally assaulted at his shop and has suffered from Traumatic Brain Injuries with multiple brain bleeds and has been in a coma in the Neuro ICU. Unfortunately, we don’t know the outcome of what will happen when he’s awake with brain injuries it’s hard to predict the future of how stable he will be until then I will be caring for 3 dogs, paying for his monthly bill for the shop and utility bills, but our family is praying for him to wake up stronger and to be healthier,” Ven wrote on the GoFundMe page.

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