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Authorities have arrested a man suspected of beating and sexually assaulting two women along the famed Venice Canals in separate attacks last weekend, the Los Angeles Police Department announced on Friday.
Anthony Jones, 29, was apprehended late Thursday evening in San Diego. He is described as a Black male, 6 feet 1 inch tall and 200 pounds.
Police did not immediately reveal what evidence led to his arrest. Officials said the case would be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which would provide more information.
The attacks occurred late in the evening on April 6.
The Venice Canals are seen on April 9, 2024. (KTLA)
In the first, police say a man approached a woman from behind in the 2700 block of Strongs Drive near the Grand Canal and struck her in the head with a hard object, knocking her unconscious.
In the second incident, which occurred about an hour later, police say the same man assaulted a woman who was walking near the Sherman Canal.
On Friday, police confirmed that both attacks had a “sexual element.”
Mary Klein, 54, a single mother, suffered fractures to her jaw, broken teeth, a large gash on the back of her head and multiple contusions, according to a friend who started a GoFundMe campaign to pay Klein’s medical bills.
The condition of the second victim was not known.
Mary Klein, 54, is seen in a photo posted on a GoFundMe campaign. (GoFundMe)
At Friday’s news conference, L.A. City Councilwoman Traci Park thanked police for quickly apprehending a suspect and expressed frustration with what she described as a decline in basic expectations of safety in America’s second-largest city.
“People in the city of Los Angeles are sick and tired of feeling unsafe,” said Park. “No woman, no visitor, no family should be unsafe walking in any neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, much less our city’s number one tourist destination.”
Park blasted policies that she says have allowed dangerous people to “roam” the streets.
“I am sick and tired of living in the middle of a failed social experiment,” she said. “We have all had enough. Enough with the ridiculous soft on crime/defund the police/catch-and-release/ ‘criminals are the victims’ policies that got us into this mess. Enough!”
(source)