Man accused of punching and stabbing gay men faces hate crime charges
Joshua Ebow (Culver City Police)
A man who is accused of punching and stabbing gay men has been charged with hate crime enhancements in three of the incidents.
Joshua Ebow was charged yesterday with the hate crime enhancements for the attacks in Culver City, Inglewood and Los Angeles. He is accused of stabbing and punching at least four people in separate incidents in a store and in restaurants across Culver City, Inglewood and LA, the Los Angeles Times reports.
The 30-year-old was arrested on January 3 in connection with the stabbings. Investigators later connected Ebow to two other attacks.
Joshua Ebow has been charged with three hate crime enhancements over the attacks.
Prosecutors have charged him with hate crime enhancements in three of those attacks and said there is evidence that the victims’ sexual orientation was a motivating factor.
Police also believe that others may have been targeted by Ebow and are urging people to contact police in Los Angeles and Culver City.
Ebow has already pleaded not guilty to his earlier charges but is now expected to appear in court on Monday (February 3) on hate crime enhancement charges. He could face up to 14 years in prison if he is convicted.
He first came to police attention after a stabbing was reported at a Five Guys restaurant in Culver City. The victim was cut on the hand during the attack.
Four days later, another victim was stabbed in the arm in the same shopping mall. CCTV footage led investigators to Ebow.
A recent report found that hate crimes have reached a decade high in the United States.
The news comes just six months after a report revealed that hate crimes in the United States had reached a decade high.
The research found that hate crimes increased by nine percent to 2,009 cases in the 30 cities surveyed by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism (CSHE) at California State University San Bernardino, which released the report in July.
The surge in hate crimes marked the steepest rise since 2015 and the fifth increase in consecutive years.
While hate crime is on the rise, the rate of overall crime is on the decline, the report revealed.
The publication showed that the most common hate crime victims reported to police in major cities in 2018 were LGBT+ people, Jews and black people.
