Two Suspects Arrested in Violent Attack on MacDill Air Force Base Soldier, Police Say

Tampa Police detectives have arrested two suspects in, according to a media release.

Tampa Police say Johnny Aparicio, 24, was walking eastbound on Iowa Avenue near Renellie Drive South around 3:30 a.m. Sunday when the four suspects approached him and one asked him for a dollar.

"As he replied, three of the suspects began to hit him in the face and upper body causing him to fall to the ground," Tampa Police spokesperson Andrea Davis said in a media release.

Once on the ground, all four suspects hit and kicked the Aparicio. They went through his pockets and took his cell phone and wallet before fleeing south on Renellie Drive, according to police. The beating .

Aparicio, a soldier assigned to U.S. Centcom at MacDill Air Force Base, had been in Tampa for less than a month and was walking home to his Interbay Boulevard apartment just a few blocks away when the beating occurred, ABC Action News reports.

Aparicio eventually got up following the attack and was able to knock on a neighbor's door and call police. He sustained facial injuries and was transported to a local hospital.

He was released from the hospital, Tampa Police officials said, Wednesday afternoon.

A law firm, a local church and two private citizens have posted a for information leading to the arrest of the suspects accused of violently robbing a the soldier.