$15K Reward Offered In East LA Hammer Attacks
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A $15,000 reward was approved Tuesday for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person behind "brutal" hammer attacks on two people in East Los Angeles.
Supervisor Hilda Solis recommended the reward, calling the March 25 attacks "brutal" and saying the victims appeared to have been chosen at random.
The attacks happened within hours and blocks of each other, according to Los Angeles County sheriff's Detective Ed Sanchez.
In the first attack, the attacker approached a man described as "elderly" and without provocation struck him with "a hammer-like weapon."
"When the victim fell to the ground, the suspect kicked the victim," before running off, Sanchez said.
A few hours later, and less than three blocks away from the first crime scene, a woman standing in front of a home was similarly attacked by a man wielding a hammer-like weapon, according to the detective.
The woman was struck several times "about the head" and knocked unconscious, Sanchez said.
Both victims were admitted to a hospital in serious condition.
The suspect was described as a heavyset Hispanic man with a goatee. He's believed to be about 40 to 45 years old, 5 feet-10 inches to 6 feet tall and weighing between 200 and 240 pounds.
Detectives said he last was seen wearing a straw hat, blue windbreaker-type jacket, sunglasses, brown cargo shorts and white shoes.
Anyone with information about the attacks can call the sheriff's East Los Angeles Station at (323) 264-4151.
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