A member of MS-13 was charged this week with assaulting a transgender woman Thursday in MacArthur Park, the latest in a string of attacks allegedly committed by the gang against members of the LGBTQ community in the area, prosecutors said.
Gabriel Orellana, 19, was charged with one count of battery likely to produce great bodily injury in connection with the attack, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Ceballos. Orellana and another suspect — who has yet to be arrested or charged — allegedly approached the victim, asked why she was there and yelled derogatory remarks before knocking her to the ground and striking her repeatedly in the head and torso, Ceballos said.
The woman was treated at an area hospital and required stitches, Ceballos said. It was at least the fourth time a member of the gang had been linked to violence against a transgender woman in the park since August 2020.
Last year, prosecutors filed three counts of attempted murder against MS-13 member Donoban Fonseca, who is accused of stabbing two transgender women in separate incidents between August and October. He also allegedly physically assaulted one of the women last September, authorities said.
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