Homicide investigation after man beaten to death in citizen's arrest after climbing LB school fence

LONG BEACH, Calif. - A man was beaten to death during a citizen's arrest at an elementary school in Long Beach and a homicide investigation was underway Friday.

The Long Beach Police Department was directed to McKinley Elementary School on Paramount Boulevard after officers were told a man tried to hop the school fences while allegedly carrying a small sledgehammer Tuesday afternoon.

LBPD officers on the scene were told as the man tried to hop over a second campus fence, he was pulled down and "detained by a group" of men, according to the police crime blotter. 

At the time of the deadly incident, someone reported the man carrying the sledgehammer was wanted for a home invasion robbery. Come to find out, LBPD revealed after a preliminary investigation that whoever called the police falsely reported the allegations and there was no home invasion taking place in the area.

On Thursday, two days after the man's death, Long Beach police are ruling his death a homicide after investigators learned two men – with zero affiliation to LBPD – brought the sledgehammer-carrying man down from one of the fences he was climbing, then punched and kicked the man to death.

LBPD said no force was used by the real cops in the man's death. The two men who allegedly beat the man to death were detained and questioned, but have since been released.

As of Thursday night, no arrests have been announced, despite the fact that the man's death was ruled a homicide.