A homeless man was found guilty on a slew of charges stemming from multiple assaults across Santa Monica and Los Angeles that targeted Hispanic people.
According to a press release issued by the Santa Monica Police Department, officers received a call regarding an assault with a deadly weapon in the 3100 block of Main Street on Aug. 20, 2023.
Upon arriving, the officers located a Hispanic man with head injuries who had been attacked from behind with a large wooden stick, police said.
“The assault was unprovoked, and the victim did not see the suspect,” SMPD stated. “The victim sustained a large laceration to his head and required stitches behind his ear.”
Two days later, Santa Monica Police officers located another Hispanic man who was the victim of an attempted assault at Palisades Park, located in the 1400 block of Ocean Avenue.
That victim was a maintenance worker for the City of Santa Monica, authorities said.
“The victim stated the suspect walked directly towards him and attempted to punch him in the face,” the SMPD release read. “The suspect then threw a glass bottle towards the victim’s face but missed.”
Detectives assigned to the cases found the suspect description was the same in both incidents; in addition, detectives located a Los Angeles Police Department bulletin advising the suspect – later identified as Kevin Mumin – was connected to hate crimes in their jurisdiction.
“[Mumin] specifically targeted and attacked Hispanics,” police said.
The 37-year-old transient – who has prior arrests for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, criminal threats, narcotics sales, solicitation, indecent exposure, sexual battery and battery – was taken into custody on Aug. 23, 2023, after investigators looked through surveillance footage and positively identified him as the suspect.
He was charged with multiple felony assaults with hate crime allegations; detectives in Santa Monica filed their cases jointly with the LAPD incidents.
At his trial earlier this month, Mumin was convicted of three counts of assault with a deadly weapon with enhancements for great bodily injury in addition a hate crime. He was also found guilty of one count of felony sexual battery stemming from one of the Los Angeles incidents, law enforcement officials confirmed.
He was handed a sentence of 23 years and eight months in state prison on Aug. 21, a year and one day after the first reported assault in Santa Monica.