SOUTH GATE, Calif. – Authorities Tuesday sought the public’s help to identify and locate a suspect who attacked at least three people in two seemingly unprovoked assaults in the South Gate area.
The first attack occurred at about 8:30 p.m. on June 30 in the 3300 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near Long Beach Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The victim was walking with his wife when a white work truck pulled into a driveway nearby and the suspect exited the vehicle with “a large metal object,” which authorities said may have been a tire iron.
The suspect approached the victim — a Hispanic man — and his wife “while making racial comments towards him” and attacked the victim with the object without warning. The victim was struck in his leg and upper body before he and his wife ran southbound across Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The suspect briefly chased the man and his wife before returning to his vehicle and fleeing the scene.
Soon after the first attack, a man walking northbound in the 11300 block of Long Beach Boulevard saw the suspect vehicle drive past him, according to the LASD. The victim walked into a business, where he was attacked from behind by the suspect.
The suspect struck the victim over the head with a metal object, causing the victim to fall to the floor where the suspect continued to strike him in the head. The suspect then fled the scene through a parking lot and out of view.
The victim in the second attack suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, but has since been released and is recovering at home. The LASD noted the victim was a Black man, but did not report if the suspect made “racial comments” as he did in the first attack.
“Both victims had no knowledge of who the suspect is and at no point did the suspect attempt to take anything from them,” Deputy David Yoo said. “The attacks appear to be completely random and unprovoked.”
The suspect was described as a Hispanic man between 35 and 45 years old, between 5-feet-7 and 5-feet-11 inches tall and weighing between 185 and 200 pounds.
The suspect vehicle was described as a white Ford F-150 pickup truck equipped with a roof rack.
Anyone with information on the assaults was asked to contact LASD Detective McInnis at 323-568-4800. Anonymous tips can be called in to Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or submitted online at lacrimestoppers.org.
