Sabrina dela Peña offers nearly 30 years of cold drinks, family essentials and friendly words in the walled convenience store across the street from MacArthur Park.
Despite crime problems in the area, Dela Peña, 61, said she was not threatened by her clients until last month. Over the course of two weeks, she was repeatedly attacked and harassed by police now by unidentified men wanted by police.
"Of course, some people will bother me. Sometimes they are taking drugs or just having a bad day. But I usually ask them to be nice and not come back, or they either come back, or when they come back, they apologize." "But no one can hurt me like he did."
Dela Peña said she was sexually assaulted, beaten with a skateboard and defeated in a series of incidents where police posted alleged hate crimes.
The motive for the attack was obvious, she said: She was a transgender person.
"This is more important than anything," she said. "As long as the authorities don't stop, as long as the politics remains, we will continue to suffer such attacks."
On a recent afternoon, the owner sat in a narrow area of her store with full makeup. The average customer continued in as she put on her eyeliner and adjusted her wig. Some bought Newport’s packaging, others stopped for a can of grape soda.
Surrounded by tin foil, shelves of cooking oil and water tanks from immigrating from El Salvador 35 years ago, she described her shop as a place where she felt safe and everyone always greeted her in a pleasant way.
On April 8, she said, a man was “like any other client.”
LAPD released images of three suspects seeking in repeated attacks on Sabrina dela Peña.
He bought the water and began flirting with her. She remembers that he called her "pretty", and she politely refused, saying she was "not interested". About an hour later, he returned, pushed her to the ground, hit her on the head, began sexually assaulting her, and based on his narrative of the incident.
He allegedly stopped when he realized that De La Peña was transgender. She recalls that he began to yell at her repeatedly, “Are you AF?
De La Peña said he eventually fled the scene, and she called police, who arrived about two hours later.
"I think the nightmare is over and it won't happen again," she said.
But the next day, around 11 p.m. on April 9, she said the suspect returned with two other people.
They seduced her outside the store and began to beat her with a skateboard. Video surveillance lens captures moments on the camera. I saw them pull her to the balcony and hit her repeatedly. De La Peña tried to fight back, eventually holding the skateboard and hitting them.
De La Peña said the main attacker stayed for a few days and returned again on April 13. She said she saw him on a security camera and investigated the store’s door. He returned with the others on April 16 and 19, when they attacked her with pepper spray. They splashed an unknown liquid on her and tried to use a Taser, which De La Penia said she managed to avoid.
"I'm not a violent person. I'm not aggressive. I'm not having a problem. I never thought I needed (like pepper spray) because I never had any trouble. But as they kept returning, (my family) thought they would kill me," De La Peña said.
In five incidents in which the attackers came to the West Lake storefront, De La Peña said police were three times - the perpetrators were escaping every hour.
LAPD issued a press release on April 28 about the incident, inquiring Public helps identify suspects captured on camera.
LAPD Rampart Division Det. Jose Hidalgo said officials are monitoring the location of Dela Peña and distributing crime alerts. He said the installation units were also patrolling the area.
"We are working hard and leveraging all of our resources," Hidalgo said. "We have additional patrols and a dedicated department. We will eventually catch them as soon as possible."
Prior to the attack, De La Peña said she would do most of the sales late at night. The owner, who lives in the back area of the store, said she once let her door open until she was late and then sold items. But since the attack, she has only opened during the day out of fear. She said she was worried about paying monthly rents due to sales drops.
“My life has changed a lot. I have felt safe for nearly 30 years,” De La Peña said. "Now, I'm filled with a lot of fear, so panic. I don't think I'll be the same again."