A 65-year-old man, Luis M. Pagán Negrón, has died after being beaten by a neighbor during a dispute on May 5 in the Villa Real housing development on Calle 5 in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. Police say the argument escalated into a physical altercation in which both men punched each other, but investigators determined that Juan Carlos Figueroa struck first.
Pagán Negrón was hospitalized at Centro Médico de Río Piedras with contusions and skull and facial fractures. He died on June 1, 2026, though police did not report his death until this past Saturday. The Center for Analysis of Criminal Incidence and Crime Resolution (CAICED), part of the Puerto Rico Police’s Auxiliary Superintendency of Criminal Investigations (SAIC), reclassified the case as a homicide.
Agent Miguel Barreto of the Vega Baja Criminal Investigations Corps (CIC) Homicide Division and prosecutor Yarelis Sánchez Courney are leading the investigation. Authorities noted Pagán Negrón had a prior criminal record from 2016, though the specific charges were not disclosed.