Two suspects have been arrested in connection with an attack on a group of transgender women in Hollywood earlier this week that police are now calling a hate crime.
Carlton Callway, 29, was arrested in Bakersfield on Thursday afternoon on suspicion of robbery in connection with the attack early Monday that left one woman injured, according to LAPD captain Steve Lurie, the division commander in Hollywood.
Willie Walker, a 42-year-old homeless man, was also arrested on Wednesday after allegedly trying to “export the victims before returning their property,” according to an LAPD crime bulletin.
A third suspect, 22-year-old Davion Williams, is suspected of assault but remains in custody, Lurie said.
“There’s no place for hate like this anywhere, especially in Hollywood,” Lurie said.
Video that was widely shared on social media showed a man who police now believe to be Callway threatening Eden the Doll, Jaslene Whiterose and Joslyn Flawless, about 2 a.m. Monday in the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard. All three women are influencers with big followers on social media.
In the video, Callway threatens Flawless with a gun bar as he robs her and then slaps Whiterose over the head with something as bystanders laugh and the women spit.
Police said the man demanded Flawless’ shoes and bracelet while threatening her with the weapon and hit Whiterose with a bottle – all while making ‘urgent remarks’ about her gender identity.
‘He held a pub bar to my face and threatened to kill me unless I took off my shoes and gave him my jewelry and all my [possessions]. He said if I was trans he would kill me, “Flawless wrote on Instagram. The attack caused a riot in the LGBTQ community of Los Angeles.
Lurie said one of the women had non-life-threatening injuries and was treated and released at the scene.
Police also confirm that Williams threw an electric scooter at the women. He is wanted for assault with a deadly weapon. In 2018, Williams was one of seven people arrested and charged with assaulting police officers during an incident in a street race in South LA
It remains unclear if the suspects knew each other, or if they knew the victims. Lurie said police were able to identify the men through a combination of tips derived from the attack footage and a review of the suspects’ social media pages.
Walker, the homeless man, was known to reach out to officers, Lurie said. Court records show he has been arrested several times for battery in Los Angeles County since 2010.
During a meeting of the Police Commission earlier this week, some members of the public asked why an LAPD cruiser could be seen driving through the background of the video without stopping. LAPD chief Michel Moore said the officer in that cruiser was on his way to another emergency call, but promised to investigate the matter further.
On Thursday, Lurie said a personnel investigation into the case was open, but reiterated Moore’s statement that the police SUV shown in the video had already been sent out to an unrelated emergency.
Los Angeles City Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, whose district includes Hollywood, on Wednesday expressed frustration with those filming the attack and appearing to be egging on without intervening.
“That is not behavior that is being perpetrated by the City of Angels,” he said.
Black Future Project, an activist organization that jumped at protests against police violence earlier this summer, had already planned a demonstration in support of Black women identifying as transgender in the throat of the attack. The demonstration is scheduled for 7 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
“Black trans women are some of the most vulnerable members of our community. They are constantly on the front lines again, fighting against systematic patriarchal and racial violence for everyone when so few people are ready to fight for them, “the group said in an email.” We gather to raise voices “so often there will be silence and let Hollywood know that ‘Black Lives Matter’ includes black trans women.”
Times staff writer Kevin Rector contributed to this report.
