KENNER - Officials say a man who was attacked by a 16-year-old with a hammer last month has died.

  

Kenner Police Chief Michael Glaser says in a statement that 89-year-old Phillip Lynch died Thursday. He says criminal charges against the 16-year-old boy accused of beating Lynch and his wife could be upgraded pending results of an autopsy.

  

Glaser says Lynch's next-door neighbor called 911 on the afternoon of July 10 reporting that Lynch was covered in blood and asking for help. The neighbor gave investigators the teenager's name.

  

Detectives were at the neighbor's house when Baton Rouge police reported the couple's car had crashed and the teen was detained.