Relatives of Jorge Restrepo, left, mourn at the site of his attack on Watson Street in Central Falls during a vigil and march held yesterday. From left: Karina Hernandez, Adelaida Sanchez, Juan David Restrepo and Paula-Andrea Restrepo, his daughter.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

CENTRAL FALLS –– Jorge Restrepo was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back, lend you a dollar even if he only had a dollar left to his name.

But the two men who attacked him as he walked home from work Monday evening didn’t ask him for money. They took it. And, when he resisted, they beat him within an inch of his life.

Restrepo was a father of three who still cooked for his children even though they are grown. He was a divorced husband who was devoted to his ex-wife.

At 10 p.m. Monday, he died at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence, where he was transferred after doctors at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket determined that his injuries were life-threatening.

His ex-wife, Luz Saldarriaga, said he was beaten so severely that his head was swollen and his chest cavity was filled with blood.

For the past seven years, Restrepo worked at Vac Forming Unlimited on Rand Street, a manufacturer of molds used to cast plastic display items.

The factory is two blocks from his house, a triple-decker a hundred yards from where he was fatally beaten. “The whole street knows him. They see him walk to work every day,” Juan Hernandez, his ex-son-in-law and co-worker, said.

His supervisor was driving home from work around 5:40 p.m. when he spotted a man lying on Watson Street and climbed out of his car to see what the matter was.

“There was a truck in front of me. He got out. And then I got out, and then people started coming out of their houses,” said the supervisor, who would give his name only as Jim.

“I didn’t know it was him until I walked up and saw it was Jorge laying there,” the supervisor said. “Oh, my God,” he recalled saying to himself. “It’s Jorge.”

Restrepo’s ex-wife, Luz Saldarriaga, said he was generous with her and with their three children, Paula-Andrea, 33; Jaimie, 27 and Ricardo, 22. They lived in the triple-decker with him. She lived in an apartment on Pine Street that she said Restrepo was helping to paint.

Although they divorced 10 years after coming to this country in the late 1970s from Medellin, Colombia, they had remained close, she said.

Restrepo, 56, made about $500 a week at Vac Forming. “He’d do anything, stay anytime you needed him,” said Judy Rosa, office manager and purchasing agent at Vac Forming. “He was one of those employees who never said no to work.”

The day he was killed, Restrepo and Saldarriaga had an appointment to meet after work, have coffee and go car shopping. Their daughter, Paula-Andrea, was planning to take her children, a boy and a girl, to baseball and cheerleading practice.

Around 5:30 p.m., Saldarriaga said, Paula-Andrea heard a commotion. A neighbor waved her over. Her father was lying unconscious on the street.

Central Falls Police Chief Col. Joseph P. Moran III said the fatal attack was the case of two men “who should have known better than to assault a hard-working guy on his way home from work.” He said there had been no arrests in the case but detectives have been interviewing witnesses. He said the slaying in broad daylight was frustrating for the police but also underscored the need for people to work with the officers. He urged anyone with information about the fatal beating to call the Central Falls Police Department, (401) 727-7411, and ask for detectives.

At 5 p.m. yesterday, co-workers, family, friends and neighbors held a vigil for Restrepo, retracing his steps from his job to the place where his life was taken.

Joseph Marques, the owner of Vac Forming, brought Restrepo’s relatives into the factory to talk to them privately and give them candles. He wept as he spoke. “You couldn’t have asked for a better friend. We are going to walk the last steps he took. I hope nobody will ever forget him because I know I never will,” he said.

Members of the family joined the people who had gathered in the parking lot of the company for the vigil. They were friends who had lived nearby and moved away, co-workers and friends of his children. They walked down Rand Street, past Pine onto Watson, past multifamily homes and soon reached Restrepo’s memorial in front of 47 Watson St., a half-block from where Restrepo lived. The memorial was decorated with a large bouquet of flowers, candles and one tiny bear. Central Falls police officers also attended the vigil.

Restrepo’s son Jaimie Sanchez broke the silence.

“Thanks for making us feel like the whole community came out. Not in a million years would I ever think this many people loved him. I thought this would be a circus. This is what my family needed,” he said.

The sun appeared through the clouds. “Look at how the sun is shining. It’s because he is up there looking at the love people have for him,” said Adelaida Sanchez, of Pawtucket, Restrepo’s niece.

The Rev. Timothy J. Lemlin, of Holy Spirit Catholic Community in Central Falls, led the group in prayer: “We believe all the time that with love and affection we do not unravel with death,” he said.

After the vigil Jaimie Restrepo invited people to his house. Restrepo, who stood in the middle of Watson Street talking with neighbors, said his father was a hard-working man who always kept on him to be upright. He said it was devastating to hear that witnesses had said they watched his father get beaten unconscious but did not run to his aid.

“Your adrenaline rush should be to run and help that person no matter what,” Restrepo said. “Do you know how tough it is when you come out of your house to see that?” he said, pointing to his father’s memorial.

tpina@projo.com