Graphic video: Woman attacked by man with hammer in Koreatown

LOS ANGELES (FOX 11 / CNS) - A man who attacked a woman with a hammer in Koreatown has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime enhancement, police said Thursday.

The 24-year-old woman was attacked at about 6 p.m. Friday outside a business in the 1000 block of South Vermont Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

A security guard saw what was happening and stopped the attack, which was captured on surveillance video, and held the suspect until police arrived and arrested him, LAPD Capt. David Kowalski said.

The woman suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital, where she received treatment and was released, Kowalski said.

The suspect, identified as Jae Won Yang, 22, who is a Korean national, targeted the woman because she was female and Korean, the captain said. Police said he asked her if she was Korean and set upon her when she answered yes.

Yang was being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles in lieu of $1.075 million bail and is next due in court on March 27.

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