LA Delivery Man Charged In Hate Crime Spree Targeting Gays: LADA

LOS ANGELES, CA — A former Los Angeles delivery driver faced news charges Thursday in a string of alleged hate crime attacks target gay men across the Los Angeles region. Authorities now believe there may be additional victims.

The attacks occurred in West Los Angeles, Culver City and Inglewood. What were initially thought to be random attacks, turned out to be connected as part of a larger spree victimizing members of the LGBTQ community, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

Joshua Immanuel Ebow, 30, of Los Angeles, was charged with new hate crime charges Thursday after detectives determined he targeted men he perceived to be gay, prosecutors say.

Ebow -- who is set to be arraigned next Monday -- was initially charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon involving alleged attacks against two men in the Westfield Culver City mall on Dec. 29 and Jan. 3.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office subsequently added two felony counts of battery and one felony count of exhibiting a deadly weapon, along with a misdemeanor charge of exhibiting a deadly weapon. The charges include allegations that Ebow committed a hate crime in three of the alleged attacks.

Ebow allegedly attacked a man and brandished a knife at a pizza restaurant in Inglewood on Christmas Day, and allegedly pulled out a knife and stabbed a man at a fast-food restaurant in Culver City on Dec. 29, according to the District Attorney's Office.

He is also charged with using a knife to assault a man in West Los Angeles on Jan. 1, and stabbing another man at a store in Culver City on Jan. 3, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Ebow has remained jailed since his arrest Jan. 3 in El Segundo.

He allegedly "provided Culver City police detectives with a full confession to both stabbings" in that city, Culver City police said earlier this month.

City News Service contributed to this report.