A New York man was brutally attacked while on a trip to Dublin, Ireland.
57-year-old Stephen Termini of Buffalo was assaulted by teenagers near the Store Street police station in a central part of the city.
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His son said his father is in critical condition from the beating and is in a coma, and he is at risk of losing his eye.
"He might lose an eye. We're not really sure. There haven't been too many updates ... He was in a coma. He’s stable, at the very least," described Michael Rizzuto.
"What we were told was, he was minding his own business, and three kids just randomly assaulted them, and I’ve done my own digging and, you know, research, and it seems like it's a common thing for tourists over there to just get attacked. I guess where he was, down in that area, is not the safest part. And I've had a lot of people reach out to me confirming that," Rizzuto said.
Michael and his brother Jesse Rizzuto said they were stunned to learn their father was brutally attacked by teenagers last week.
"I have a lot of emotions. My head's just been spinning," said Michael.
"We’re hoping to get some peace when we get over there," said Jesse.
The family said the father had saved up money to go on the trip to Dublin. Their dad regularly traveled to Ireland, a place he wanted to live, and was attacked just a day after he arrived in Dublin, the family said.
They say their father is a "jack of all trades" and loves music and it is his lifelong dream to live in Ireland. Proud of his Irish roots, he was finally ready to do that when he arrived last week.
"He kind of turned his life around after you know, struggling for a while and he finally was able to save up and do it and go out there and live his dream. You know, not many people can say that. For him to be able to go over there and, you know, I’m sure it's the happiest he's ever been and everything else you know, it's too good to be true sometimes," Jesse said.
Now both of the brothers are desperately trying to secure their passports to travel to Ireland to be by their dad's side.
They created a Gofundme page to help their father, saying it was "an unprovoked attack."
The page has received a lot of support from all over the world, including in Ireland.
"It feels great to know somebody that has never met us or our father or anything else can sit down and say, hey, let us know when you get off the plane and we just want to give you a hug and say, you know, we apologize," Jesse said.
"We'll be over there as soon as we can," Michael said.
The man's son also wrote "The brutal attack has left my father in a coma after suffering various injuries. He is currently in critical condition with what I am told are life-altering injuries. I am receiving news of this situation as it comes in through the media alongside everyone else."
They asked the community to send "healing vibes" to their father as his family works to learn more about the situation.
Police in Dublin arrested one of the juveniles involved in the beating on Sunday.
He is being held on bail and is scheduled to appear later this week in a Children’s Court.
"We’ve spoken to investigators. We're in contact with them. We can't release everything that we're told," police said.
Michael said, "They have been very helpful. And I actually have faith and then they got one of the three guys, so hopefully they get the rest."
This story was originally published by Eileen Buckley at Scripps News Buffalo.
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