CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A man who was beaten and robbed outside the Charleston Transit Mall in May has emerged from a 56-day coma and is on his way to recovery, his brother said.

Robert "Jeff" Moore, 53, of Charleston, was attacked around 11:30 p.m. May 22 on Fife Street, a pedestrian thoroughfare between Summers and Capitol streets. Moore was hit on the head and knocked to the ground, then kicked repeatedly before his wallet was stolen, according to the Charleston Police Department.

Moore was "viciously assaulted and left for dead," the night he walked alone to the transit mall on his way back from an Alan Jackson concert at the Civic Center, his brother, Sam Moore, said in a prepared statement.

His injuries were so severe that a neurosurgeon gave him a 5 percent chance to survive the weekend of the attack, Sam Moore said. However, after weeks in a coma in CAMC General Hospital's trauma unit, he has "defied all odds" and is in a rehabilitation unit.

After 60 days on a feeding tube, respirator and tracheotomy tube, his brother is finally able to eat pureed foods and is able to breathe on his own, Sam Moore said.

"[He] is very alert and responsive," he said, "and our family [is] hopeful he can once again regain his former lifestyle he had prior to that of the assault."

His brother worked at the state's Legislative Services Division for more than 24 years and was a "very popular and well known fixture at the Capital and had numerous friends, contacts [and] confidants in just about every department within the Statehouse," Sam Moore said.

The attack left the community shocked and was the first in a wave of robberies and assaults that plagued the downtown area for weeks.

"The assault, which allegedly began as a robbery  . . . escalated into a savage attack which resulted in severe brain-trauma injury and nearly cost him his life," Sam Moore said.

Three people were arrested in connection with the assault and robbery, with netted the suspects $40.

By June 4, less than two weeks after the original attack, at least five assaults and muggings had taken place in the downtown area of Charleston. No one was as badly injured as Jeff Moore.

Sam Moore said his family is grateful for all of the staff members who helped his brother begin to recover. People's concerns and prayers have "kept our family going through these very adverse times," he said.

"This will be a very long and uncertain road that we are entering into, and will hopefully result in a return to normalcy and Jeff's hopeful return to his former state," he said.

Reach Kathryn Gregory at kathr...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5119.