The man was arrested in connection with a series of attacks on transgender women in Westlake.
Police say they are still looking for two other men.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said women are victimized by what they believe are the same group of men, ranging from attempted sexual assaults and aggravated assaults to robbery of the fire arm, to five separate incidents.
Police are investigating all of the violent attacks as hate crimes, including sexual assault, robbery and attempted shooting.
Investigators said the man arrested was taken into custody prior to the attack last weekend.
The Los Angeles Police Department had been seeking the help of the public to find a group of men who were believed to be the same people who attacked transgender women over the weekend and attacked her in April.
According to the LAPD, the group involved in the previous attack returned to the victim’s location in Los Angeles’ Westlake area around 11:38pm on May 31.
They assaulted 61-year-old Sabrina de la Pena and seriously injured her. The group left the scene before authorities arrived.
“This is the first time in my life that someone has beaten my face,” the heavily hurt Derapena told NBC4.
According to LAPD, one of the suspicious attackers entered the victim’s store on April 8th and began flirting with her. However, when she refused to make his progress, he left and later came back and pushed her to the ground.
“After that moment, the nightmare began, when I rejected him,” the victim said. “They started beating me, they started beating me so badly. They’re kicking my face, my head, my eyes.”
“The suspect sexually assaulted the victim and discovered that she was a transgender woman. The suspect separated and threatened to kill the victim,” LAPD said.
The same man is said to have committed other hate crimes against the victim, including returning several times with the other men to the victim’s location, struggling her with a skateboard, deploying pepper spray and throwing unknown liquid substances at her.
Detectives believe there may be other unidentified victims and are seeking the public’s help in identifying suspicious attackers and publishing photos.
Anyone who is a victim or has additional information regarding the identification of the suspect is advised to contact the Rampart Department Robbery Detective at 213-484-3495. On non-business hours or weekends, calls must be sent to 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247).
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