Police said that McDonald, who sustained third degree burns to 65% of his body, died at 8:30 a.m. at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital (KHMH), according to Dr. Jose Carballo, an attending physician at the hospital.

Initially, police said that they were investigating the matter as an assault on the homeless man, but are now dealing with the incident as a murder case. However, police have not yet detained anyone.

McDonald?s murder has left relatives in shock, as they feel that his death was an unthinkable and cruel act on the part of the culprit. They are hoping that police find the person responsible for killing him.

A neighbor of the area where Makaa was found told Amandala yesterday that she heard the man cry out, and when she went to his aid, he was able to tell her that a dark-skinned man had set him on fire.

After recounting this to the neighbor, the man passed out and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.

McDonald, however, was unable to say who his attacker was, but the neighbor who saw the dying man at his last moments told us what she saw.

According to the neighbor, she was asleep at about 2:00 a.m. when her husband woke her up because he heard someone crying out for help. She recalled that when she looked through her window, she saw someone on fire. She ran downstairs and saw that a young man she recognized was on fire, and she asked him who had done that to him.

McDonald then shouted to her that someone had just thrown kerosene on him, and that he was burning.

He began crying out, ?Help! Help! Please help me!? she recalled.

Immediately, she dialed 911 for assistance.

She said that seeing someone she knew in such pain and agony was terrifying. McDonald had already ripped off his shirt, and his trousers were off, too. She noticed that his burnt chest was white, and he was bleeding. The skin on his hand was falling away from the body.

The man?s last words to her were for her to please help him, but she said there was little she could do.

The attending physician at the KHMH, Dr. Carballo, told Amandala that ?McDonald came in with almost his entire body burned? about 60% was burned. There were different degree burns. Second degree and third degree burns. There were also internal organ burns to the trachea and esophagus, the mouth and everywhere else.?

According to a relative of McDonald, he was a patient of Rockview, but regardless, he was someone who troubled no one and kept to himself.

A resident of the area we spoke to was shocked to hear of the man?s death, because she remembered that just the night before, the man told her goodnight before he fell asleep in front of the Chinese shop.

According to his sister, Violet Hemmans, 42, her brother chose to sleep in the streets. He had a room in the West Street area, but refused to stay there.

The last time she saw her brother alive was two weeks ago, and she is distraught over the way he died.

The neighbor who came to McDonald?s assistance recalled knowing him since his boyhood days, because he grew up in the area. The night before, he had asked her if she could buy the kerosene oil from him, but she told him no.

That night when she last saw him, he was using the bottle, which had in kerosene, as a pillow. He also had a chocolate bar near it, she recalled.

McDonald had no children and was never married. He is survived by his father, Clarence Hemmans, Sr., of the USA; brother, Clarence Hemmans, Jr.; one sister, Violet Hemmans.

A post-mortem is scheduled for this afternoon, and funeral arrangements are still pending.