Witness says fatally wounded Patriots fan was punched in the head

A person who attended Sunday night’s Miami Dolphins-New England Patriots game at Gillette Stadium said the man who died after what officials called an “incident” there was punched twice in the head.

In an interview with several local media outlets, Joey Kilmartin said he saw Dale Mooney, a 53-year-old man from Newmarket, New Hampshire, confront a rival Dolphins fan with whom he had been arguing for most of the game.

“He (Mooney) went to Section 311 and basically got into mutual combat with another fan,” Kilmartin told the Boston Globe. “A lot of people started trying to separate them… It seemed like someone was in the middle of them. And then a man in a Dolphins jersey came up and landed two blows to the victim’s head. It wasn’t anything crazy or out of character. than usual until, 30 seconds later, the guy was no longer getting up.

Kilmartin recorded video of what he said happened at the stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

Police and staff responded to the upper floor of the facility shortly before 11 p.m. and found Mooney “apparently in need of medical attention,” the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release Monday. Mooney was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the release.

The results of the autopsy are expected this week, according to a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office.

Massachusetts State Police are investigating what happened.

“Numb. I just feel numb. I can’t even believe this is real,” Mooney’s wife Lisa told Boston’s WCVB-TV. “I want to know what happened. What caused this?”

Gillette Stadium officials said in a statement they were “heartbroken” to learn of the death of Mooney, whom they described as a lifelong Patriots fan and 30-year season ticket holder.

“We continue to work with local authorities to assist them with their ongoing investigation,” the statement said. “We extend our deepest condolences and deepest condolences to Dale’s family and all those mourning the loss of him.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.