SPOKANE, Wash. - 
 
 WWII veteran Delbert Belton survived being wounded in action during the Battle of Okinawa only to be beaten and left for dead by two teens at the Eagles Lodge in Spokane on Wednesday evening. 
 
 Belton, 88, succumbed to his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center. 
 
 Witnesses say Belton was in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge at 6410 N. Lidgerwood, adjacent to the Eagles Ice-A-Rena, around 8 p.m. Wednesday when the two male suspects attacked him as he was about to head inside to play pool. 
 
 Police responded with K-9s to track the suspects' scent but were not able to locate them. 
 
 "It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," Spokane Police Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths said. 
 
 Belton died from his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center. 
 
 "Shorty," as he was known by his friends at the Eagles Lodge, served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during WWII and was shot in the leg during the Battle of Okinawa. He went on to work at Kaiser Aluminum at the company's Trentwood plant for more than 30 years. Belton's wife passed away several years ago. 
 
 He loved playing pool, even though he claimed he was no good at it and had been a member of the Eagles Lodge for the last four months. In addition to playing pool he loved working on cars. 
 
 Shorty was Ted Denison's best friend of 23 years; the two played pool occasionally and worked on cars daily. 
 
 "He was always there for me when I needed him," Denison said. "We'd joke back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun." 
 
 He was the kind of nice old man who'd become your friend in minutes. 
 
 "Probably every time I come into town, he'd have a project for me to do," Denison said. "I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really." 
 
 Now, with the suspects still at large and the Spokane Police Department working to track them down, Shorty's friends are hoping for justice. 
 
 "I don't understand how somebody could do this. I really don't," Denison said. 
 
 Spokane police are looking for two male suspects in the attack. They said the suspects are African Americans between 16 and 19 years old. One suspect was described as heavy set and wearing all black clothing. The other was described as being about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds. There was no description of what clothing the second suspect was wearing other than a silk do-rag. 
 
 Police investigating the deadly attack on Belton have also obtained surveillance footage from the scene. Click this link to see still images of the two suspects in the attack. ||||| Family friends via KHQ-TV Delbert Belton, who was wounded in the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, died Thursday after he was beaten in Spokane, Wash. 
 
 A 16-year-old was arrested Friday in the robbery and beating death of an 88-year-old veteran who survived being wounded in World War II, Spokane, Wash., police said. 
 
 A second teen was still being sought in the murder of Delbert "Shorty" Belton, a retired aluminum company worker who was brutally attacked in the parking lot of his lodge Wednesday night and died the following morning. 
 
 The suspects' names were not released because of their age, police said. The teen in custody was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery. 
 
 "I just hope they find the creeps," Belton's sister, Alberta Tosh, told NBC News on Friday just before the arrest was announced. 
 
 Police Lt. Mark Griffiths said the teens apparently attacked Belton at random. 
 
 "It appears he was assaulted in the parking lot, and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," Griffiths said at a news conference. 
 
 Spokane Police Department Police released these surveillance camera photos Thursday of two young men believed to be the suspects in the beating death of Delbert Belton of Spokane, Wash. Click to enlarge the images. 
 
 As police released surveillance camera photos of the two young men, a makeshift memorial overflowing with flowers, U.S. flags and messages of sympathy sprouted Thursday outside the Eagles Lodge in North Spokane. 
 
 Friends and family remembered Belton as a warm, generous widower who helped many people over the years and was incredibly active for his age. 
 
 "He was outstanding," Tosh said. "He went dancing. He worked on cats all the time. He would help anyone who needed help." 
 
 Friend Linda Herde told NBC station KHQ of Spokane that Belton "had a heart of gold>' 
 
 "There wasn't a thing he wouldn’t do for anybody," she added. "He’d give you the shirt off his back." 
 
 Belton was waiting for a friend at the lodge because he didn't want her to walk in alone, Lillian Duncan, a longtime friend, told the Spokesman-Review of Spokane. 
 
 "He was so awesome," Duncan told the newspaper. "Anybody that didn't get to know him missed out on a wonderful angel in their life." 
 
 Many others told similar stories. 
 
 "If it wouldn't have been for him, I wouldn't have been able to get my life straight," Belton's great-nephew Allen Hills told KHQ. 
 
 Hills said he had hit bottom about 10 years ago in California, where he was unemployed and sleeping on his mother's sofa. That's when his great-uncle stepped in with the offer of a car and a new life in Washington state. 
 
 "It seems trivial, but he really did save my life," Hills said. "He made it possible for me to get a job and find work." 
 
 Ted Dennison, a friend, called Belton "a tough old bird" who was shot in the leg in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa. His experiences in the war didn't appear to have dampened Belton's instinct to help others, Denison said. 
 
 "He was always there any time I needed anything," Denison told KHQ. 
 
 Belton died the same day another Spokane man was killed in a confrontation with police, a manifestation of what Hills said was the "senseless violence" plaguing the city of 210,000 in eastern Washington. 
 
 "It's too much, and it's constant and never-ending," said Hills, who said Belton was just the latest victim. 
 
 "He wasn't just my great-uncle," Hills said. "He was a great person, and he didn't deserve to die like that." 
 
 Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com 
 
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– An 88-year-old World War II veteran is dead after two teens beat him in a parking lot Wednesday night, police say. One of the two suspects, aged 16, has now been arrested and charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree murder, NBC News reports. The other is still at large. It's unclear why the boys allegedly attacked Delbert "Shorty" Belton in Spokane, Washington: "It does appear random ... there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," says a police rep. Police haven't released the suspect's name because of his age. Both suspects are reportedly black males between ages 16 and 19. One is six feet tall and about 150 pounds, while the other, who was dressed all in black, is heavyset. Belton, a US Army veteran, fought in the Pacific; he was wounded by a bullet to the leg at the Battle of Okinawa, KXLY reports. He was reportedly on his way to play pool when he was attacked; he died yesterday morning.