Police searching for suspect who sexually assaulted woman inside of her Echo Park apartment

Police are searching for a man who sexually assaulted a woman inside of her Echo Park apartment earlier in October. 

According to a statement released to the public, the woman left her apartment to walk her dog around Echo Park Lake at around 7:15 p.m. on Oct. 9. After returning home at around 8 p.m., she was approached by a man that she didn't know who made a comment about her dog. 

As she opened the door to her apartment and attempted to shut the door behind her, the man pushed the door open and walked in behind her. 

He the pushed her to the floor and got on top of her, groping her genital area. The woman screamed for help, which caused the suspect to slap her in the face twice before covering her mouth. 

"The suspect then groped the victim's genital area again, until the victim was able to separate herself from the suspect by kicking him off her," police said. 

The woman attempted to crawl to the door of her apartment, again screaming for help before the suspect left the apartment, heading out of the complex towards Glendale Boulevard and Montana Street. 

During the course of their investigation, detectives discovered video footage of the suspect following the woman on Sunset Boulevard.

A neighbor recalls the moments she could hear the victim screaming for help.

"We came out and she said, 'He tried to rape me, he hit me,'" said Karen Velasquez, who lives nearby. "It was very scary."

Surveillance footage released by police shows the suspect, a Hispanic man standing 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighing around 180 to 200 pounds. He has dark hair and brown eyes with a mustache. He was wearing a gray baseball cap and a dark-colored sweater with blue jeans and dark-colored shoes. 

Several of the men living at the complex apparently followed the man, but were unable to close because he allegedly was armed with a knife.