WESTLAKE, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — New photos show the three men believed to be responsible for the most recent attack on a transgender woman in Westlake. She’s been repeatedly attacked in what police are calling a series of hate crimes.
The victim tells Eyewitness News she thought they were going to kill her in the sixth attack on Saturday night, but the gun didn’t go off.
Detectives say the photos show the men who have been targeting 61-year-old Sabrina de la Peña, a transgender woman who owns a convenience store on West Sixth Street.
The attacks started in April when one of the men sexually assaulted de la Peña, discovered she was transgender, and then threatened to kill her.
Surveillance video shows the men dragging de la Peña out of her store and brutally beating her with a skateboard.
On Saturday night, she says the same men returned to her store, but this time, with a gun.
“I gave up and I said, ‘It’s over,’ but the gun didn’t go off, he shot it twice, twice,” de la Peña said in Spanish. “And the other one was already in my room, I think, taking the money.”
De la Peña says she was hit more than 40 times, and her attackers got away with $30,000 in cash from her store that she needed to pay rent and care for her 17- and 21-year-old daughters.
“The blows were all directed to the face and head, only the kicks were in the ribs,” de la Peña said.
Photos she shared with Eyewitness News show her covered in blood after Saturday’s attack. In previous attacks, she was sexually assaulted, pepper-sprayed, and tasered.
“There is one that I have near here, broken,” she said, pointing to her ribs. “I have stitches,” she said, showing the inside of her lip.
So far, no arrests have been made.
“This is the sixth time I’m hurt by these people, and there’s nobody to protect me,” de la Peña said.
Police believe there are additional victims out there.
The Los Angeles Police Department is urgently requesting the public’s assistance in identifying and apprehending the three suspects. Anyone with information is urged to contact LAPD Rampart Division Detectives at (213) 484-3495.
De la Peña set up a GoFundMe to help pay her expenses while she closes her store, waiting for police to arrest the suspects.
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