A Brentwood woman is speaking out after being physically and sexually assaulted while walking her 4-week-old baby in what she used to feel was a safe neighborhood.
Carmina Lu says the July 15 attack happened around 5 p.m., just moments after she said goodbye to a friend and her young daughter, who she’d been talking to in the 900 block of South Gretna Green Way.
“It was really awful,” Lu said. “I just would never expect anything like this to happen, especially one month after giving birth to a beautiful baby.”
She said the shirtless attacker, who she described as a white male, in his 20s with a thin build and brown hair, approached her from behind.
“He grabbed me by the hips with both of his hands and started sexually assaulting me,” Lu explained.
When she attempted to defend herself, the man reportedly punched her in the face, leaving her with a split lip, cuts under her eyes and, later, required staples to be put in for a scalp injury.
“The baby, thank goodness, was not touched,” Lu said. “Honestly, what scared me the most is that right before he ran away, he glanced at my stroller for a split second. If something had happened to the baby, I just would’ve been devastated.”
Hearing her screams, Lu’s neighbors came to her rescue.
“I’m very grateful to the neighbors who heard me yelling and immediately came to my aid,” she said.
Some neighbors said they spoke with the man earlier in the day, saying he mentioned his mother lives in the area and that he could speak Farsi and some Spanish.
During the traumatic ordeal, Lu said the man said something odd about a bee before he ran away from the area. She believes it was his “lame excuse for attacking” her.
“I’m outraged,” Lu’s husband told KTLA. “I hope he gets apprehended. Obviously, we don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”
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As for Lu herself, she admits that she’s been shaken by the incident.
“I just want to walk in my neighborhood and feel safe about it,” she said. “I don’t think I’m going to feel that for a while.”
So far, the man has not been identified or captured.
Anyone who might recognize him or who has any knowledge of the attack is urged to call the Los Angeles Police Department.
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