A man has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime after police have confirmed that he struck a Black woman and man with a metal pipe while taking a walk.
A fire department crew found Job Uriah Taylor assaulting the pair and fended him off before calling the authorities to report the attack.
One victim was transported to the hospital and released the same day while the other was treated for a head injury.
“Taylor yelled several racial slurs at the victim,” police said in a press statement.
Before attacking the couple, police say the suspect attacked another victim on a train platform using the same weapon he used on the man and woman. He hit the victim several times while yelling racial slurs.
Taylor has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon and one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. He also faces hate crime allegations.
“It is the mission of the Santa Monica Police Department to safeguard the rights of all individuals irrespective of their disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and/or association with a person or group with one or more of these perceived characteristics,” police said in a statement. “Hate crimes have no place in Santa Monica.”
Hate crimes in Santa Monica have been on the rise in recent years. In 2022, a suspect was charged for yelling anti-Semitic statements on a pier ramp. And more recently, a suspect attacked a victim with a water bottle while spewing anti-Arabic statements.
In another case, police reported that a suspect struck a victim and threw urine while yelling a racial slur before proceeding to choke the victim. And in another incident, a suspect made anti-Jewish remarks and shoved a victim to the ground. The victim retaliated by slapping the suspect, then the suspect dragged and punched the victim.
