Suspect targets black students

Another bad day for hate crimes in the City of Los Angeles
Crime
Hate Crime
By

At 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 13, a suspect threatened to kill four black students with a knife while using profanities and racial slurs at a local recreation center in the Rancho Park neighborhood. The LAPD arrested the suspect.

 

Laura Campfield, director of the Palms Recreation Center, confirmed that an incident took place in the park, and said that the LAPD had opened a criminal investigation.

 

This is not the first time numerous underage victims were subjected to violent hate crimes this year. We previously reported eight aggravated assaults against four child victims of Hispanic descent on June 14 in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. 

 

According to publicly available LAPD crime data, 62 hate crimes with underage victims were reported in the first nine months of 2019 in the City of Los Angeles. This is already higher than the total number of hate crimes with underage victims for all of last year, which was 39. 

 

That all the victims on the Sept. 13 crime were black is also notable. Black people were the biggest target of hate crimes last year, according to the LAPD. From Jan. 1, 2018 – Dec. 31, 2018, the LAPD recorded 61 hate crimes with an “Anti-Black or African American” bias.

 

So far this year, the LAPD labeled 47 hate crimes with “Anti-Black or African American” biases. Twelve of these – including the four on Sept. 13 –  were committed against victims 18 years old or younger.

 

The LAPD recorded the Sept. 13 crimes as follows:

 

  • The suspect intimidated and threatened to kill a 10-year-old black male student victim while using profanities and racial slurs. The crime took place at a local recreation center.

 

  • The suspect intimidated and threatened to kill a 12-year-old black male student victim while using profanities and racial slurs. The crime took place at a local recreation center.

 

  • The suspect intimidated and threatened to kill a 12-year-old black male student victim while using profanities and racial slurs. The crime took place at a local recreation center.

 

  • The suspect intimidated and threatened to kill a 13-year-old black male student victim while using profanities and racial slurs. The crime took place at a local recreation center.

 

 

How we did it: We examined publicly available LAPD data on four reported hate crimes on Sep. 13. We also combed through reports of hate crimes using the code “0903.”  For neighborhood boundaries, we rely on the borders defined by the Los Angeles Times. Learn more about our data here.

 

LAPD data only reflects crimes that are reported to the department, not how many crimes actually occurred. In making our calculations, we rely on the data the LAPD makes publicly available.

 

Additionally, revised reports do not always automatically become part of the public database. But, we will keep monitoring hate crimes in the City of Los Angeles.

 

Want to know how your neighborhood fares, or simply just interested in our data? Email us at askus@xtown.la.