BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- ABC23 is uncovering more information on what happened the day a man allegedly blinded his own son.

ABC23's east Bakersfield reporter Christine Dinh spoke to family and friends of the Angelo Mendoza Sr. and Baby Angel.

Tonya Hammond, a neighbor, noticed some changes in Mendoza a week before the incident. "Short temper -- just change," Hammond said.

Hammond said Angelo Mendoza Sr. started acting strangely shortly before April 28, the day police said the single father bit an eyeball out of his 4-year-old son's face.

Hammond recalled being outside doing yard work when the mother of Angelo Mendoza Jr. or Baby Angel, and a friend stopped by to visit.

"Angel wanted to go home with her," Hammond said, "He kept saying, 'Mama I want to go home.' He said, 'I'm scared of daddy,' and she looks to her friend and said, 'We have to go. He's flipping out and I don't know what he's tripping on. He's threatening to call the cops. We have to go."

Hammond said the two left Baby Angel behind. Shortly after, Hammond and another neighbor heard Mendoza screaming incoherently inside the apartment.

They rushed to check on Baby Angel after seeing Mendoza nervously flee the apartment in his wheelchair. Inside, they found Baby Angel on the floor naked and unconscious. His hands had bite marks, his eyes swollen shut and bleeding.

In a search warrant, doctors said the boy's left eye and muscle were completely missing. His other eye mutilated beyond repair. Baby Angel told them "my daddy ate my eyes out."

Police later found Mendoza at a vacant neighbor’s house where he chained himself to a tree. He was naked, screaming incoherently and hacking at his ankle with an ax.

The police report said Mendoza appeared to be under the influence of PCP.

Hammond said she knew he smoked medical marijuana for his paralysis but never suspected PCP.

She also never suspected he would turn on his own son.

Hammond said, "That boy was his life. That’s how I felt and he was always running after daddy."

Jesse Rosas, Angelo Mendoza's brother, said, “Little baby angel has a lot of spirit in him. He's a real adorable kid, he and my brother, when they were together, the love they had for each other was outrageous. He loved his son and did whatever he could to help his son out. And when all this happened it was a total shock."

Mendoza's brother, Jesse Rosas, is currently applying for custody of Baby Angel who is in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Rosas said, "It breaks your heart to know a little child who can't defend himself will actually go through something like this. You know because it's gonna stick with them for the rest of their life. And no child should go through something like this"

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