String of unsolved ‘transphobic’ attacks target MacArthur Park shopkeeper
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At her hole-in-the-wall convenience store across the street from MacArthur Park, Sabrina de la Peña has supplied cold beverages, household necessities and kind words for nearly 30 years.
Despite issues with crime in the area, De la Peña, 61, said she never felt threatened by a customer until last month. Over the course of two weeks, she was repeatedly assaulted and harassed by an unidentified man now wanted by police.
“Sure, some people come to bother me. Sometimes they are on drugs or are just having a bad day. But I usually ask them nicely not to come back and they either listen or when they come back, they will apologize,” said De la Peña. “But no one has ever hurt me the way he did.”
De la Peña says she was sexually assaulted, beaten with a skateboard and pepper-sprayed in a series of incidents that police have labeled a suspected hate crime.
She says the motive for the attacks is clear: She’s transgender.
“It’s a transphobic crime more than anything,” she said, mixing Spanish and English. “As long as the authorities don’t stop this and as long as politics remains as it is, we will continue to suffer these types of attacks.”
Los Angeles Police detectives are searching for several suspects who have been linked to repeated crimes against a transgender woman in the Westlake area.
On a recent afternoon, the shopkeeper sat in the tight quarters of her store, putting on a full face of makeup. As she drew on her eyeliner and adjusted her wig, regular customers continued to come in. Some bought packs of Newports, others stopped by for cans of grape soda.
Surrounded by crammed shelves of tinfoil, cooking oil and cases of water, De la Peña, who immigrated from El Salvador 35 years ago, described her store as the kind of place where she felt safe and everyone always greeted her with pleasantries.
On April 8, she said, a man came in “just as any other customer.”
He purchased water and began to flirt with her. She remembered he called her “pretty” and she politely declined, saying she “wasn’t interested.” About an hour later, he returned, shoved her to the ground, hit her over the head and began to sexually assault her, according an LAPD report and her own account of the incident.
He allegedly stopped when he realized De la Peña was transgender. She recalled that he started to yell at her repeatedly shouting, “Are you a f— tr—y? I’m going to kill you.”
De la Peña said he eventually fled the scene and she called the police, who arrived about two hours later.
“I thought the nightmare was over and that it wasn’t going to happen again,” she said.
But the next day, April 9 at around 11 p.m., she said the suspect returned with two others.
They lured her outside of the shop and began to beat her with a skateboard. Video surveillance footage captured the moment on camera. They are seen pulling her out onto the balcony and punching her repeatedly. De la Peña tried to fight back, eventually getting hold of the skateboard and hitting them.
The main attacker stayed away for a few days and came back again on April 13, De la Peña said. She said she saw him on the security cameras, investigating the store’s doorway. He returned, with others, on April 16 and 19, when they assaulted her with pepper spray. They splashed an unknown liquid on her and tried to use a Taser, which De la Peña said she managed to avoid.
A lawsuit alleges Mohd Hijaz died after San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies deployed tasers and baton strikes during an encounter that began when an individual reported he was acting erratically.
“I am not a violent person. I am not aggressive. I am not problematic. I never thought I needed [things like pepper spray] because I never make any trouble. But as they kept returning, [my family] all thought they were going to kill me,” said De la Peña.
Out of the five incidents where the attackers came to the Westlake storefront, De la Peña said the cops came three times — each time hours after the perpetrators fled.
The LAPD issued a news release about the incidents on April 28, asking the public to help identify the suspects caught on camera.
LAPD Rampart Division Det. Jose Hidalgo said officers are monitoring De la Peña’s location and handing out crime alerts. A mounted unit is also patrolling the area, he said.
“We are working diligently and using all of our resources,” Hidalgo said. “We have extra patrol and a specialized unit working on it. We’re going to eventually catch them soon.”
Before the attack, De la Peña said she would make most of her sales late at night. The shopkeeper, who lives in the store’s back area, said she used to keep her doors open until late and sell items then. But since the assaults, she has only been opening her store during the daytime, out of fear. She said that because of the dip in sales, she is worried about paying the monthly rent.
“My life has changed a lot. For almost 30 years, I felt safe,” said De la Peña. “Now, I am full of so many fears, so much panic. I don’t think I will ever be the same again.”
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