A Korean man has been arrested in Los Angeles Koreatown for attacking a woman. He brutally attacked the woman with a hammer, allegedly without any reason.
According to LAPD Olympic Division, the incident occurred on March 10 at around 6 PM at the mall located on Vermont and Olympic. Yang Jae-won, 20, approached to the victim, who was waiting for her friends, and asked her if she is Korean. When she answered yes, he walked away and came back with a hammer with which he then used to attack the victim.
As shown in the surveillance footage, he repeatedly hit the victim with a hammer – 24 times in 48 seconds. When a security guard approached him, he dropped the weapon and got arrested without further resistance. He was charged with attempted murder and currently is imprisoned at Los Angeles County Jail and being held on $1.07 million bail.
Police says that the victim, a 24-year-old Korean woman, was soon transferred to a local hospital but she is still in a serious condition.
“I saw him hitting a woman with a hammer repeatedly,” said Lee who was on site when the incident happened. “He had a lack of facial expression so I thought he might be out of his mind.”
While LAPD has not yet released the cause of the crime, witness Lee comments the assailant attacked her reportedly because of a grudge against Korean women caused by his recent break-up with girlfriend. Police is investigating if Yang is suffering any mental illness.
LAPD is to have a press conference about the incident today.
Original article by Kim Jae-ra
Translated by Heewon Kim
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