A homeless man who was beaten and critically injured July 15 died Sunday at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke police said.

Police responded to the first block of Norfolk Avenue Southwest at 12:26 a.m. July 15 to find David Lee Thompson, 40, in critical condition after being beaten. Police arrested 22-year-old Justin Matthew Michels that morning and charged him with malicious wounding.

Now that Thompson has died, however, police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said police were speaking with the commonwealth's attorney's office to determine new charges.

Johnson said Thompson was beaten with an object but refused to elaborate. Michels is being held without bond at the Roanoke City Jail.

Thompson had been staying at the Rescue Mission of Roanoke for about two months, said clients at the shelter. Lewis White, who has been in the rehabilitation program at the mission since 2003, said he grew up with Thompson in Chatham. The two had lost touch but met up again at the Rescue Mission.

"He was a good friend," White said. "We played basketball together" back in Chatham.

"He was working here and had his own place," he added. "Then he ended up having to stay here [at the Rescue Mission]."

White said Thompson drank but he was "what you might call a happy drunk."

White said Thompson had a sister in Chatham but didn't think he had any children.

Dwayne Mitchell, another client at the mission, said Thompson "didn't bother nobody."

"He stayed to himself mostly," he said.

Dannie Brooks, who has stayed at the mission for about two years, said Michels also stayed occasionally at the mission but spent most nights on the street. Some homeless people prefer staying on the street because they don't want to put up with the rules at area shelters, he said.

"To me it's a small thing to be able to eat and sleep," said Brooks.

Since Sunday evening, Thompson's death has been a major topic of conversation at the Rescue Mission, Brooks said.

"They talked about it in chapel," he said. "They talk about him quite often."

Thompson is the city's eighth homicide victim so far this year, two more than in 2004.