Lena Hernandez Long Beach, California woman aka Torrance Karen identified as woman caught on video going on racist tirades as cops seek to find her.
Here we go again. A white woman linked to three racist attacks against Asian individuals has been identified by Californian police.
Lena Hernandez, 56, of Long Beach, since dubbed ‘Torrance Karen’ has become a ‘person of interest’ after video emerged earlier this week (see below) of her verbally harassing a woman who was exercising in Wilson Park and telling her to ‘go back to whatever f****** Asian country you came from’.
After the video went viral, a 42-year-old father came forward with a second video in which the same woman was seen telling him to ‘go home’ and that he would be ‘f****d to death’ while his eleven-year-old son waited nearby.
Another woman in turn came forward on seeing the video to say that the same woman had abused her in a nearby mall last October 2019.
‘This unfortunate incident involved an older female suspect verbally assaulting a custodian and then physically assaulting another individual who was acting as a good Samaritan when they attempted to intervene,’ Torrance Police Chief Eve Berg said of the October incident at a Friday press conference.
Crime reports were taken for all three incidents, according to ABC7.
Police announced Friday that they had identified the woman in the video and pictures as Hernandez and they were trying to locate her.
Torrance Mayor Patrick J. Furey said that the actions seen the videos will not be tolerated and that it was under investigation.
‘Public safety is a high priority in the City of Torrance. And, all visitors to our open spaces should always feel safe and free to exercise while practicing social distancing without conflict. Conduct like that displayed on the video cannot be tolerated,’ he said to NBC Los Angeles.
Police chief Berg would not reveal Friday, however, if Hernandez has committed any crime, according to CBS. It has been suggested that Hernandez’s behavior is the result of mental illness.
‘I don’t know what sections there are because a lot of this might possibly not rise to the level of a crime, and yet some of it may,’ Berg said.
‘But I’m going to leave that to the investigators who have all the information. I don’t have all that information.’
Torrance, California…
In the early running for 2020 KOY.
Karen Of The Year… pic.twitter.com/78VnqymYe2
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 10, 2020
‘They’re going to f*** you up!’
Hernandez’ racist tirades first came to public attention on Wednesday after friends of alleged victim Sherry Berry shared a video she recorded of a white woman shouting racist abuse at her.
The disturbing incident, which was captured on cell phone footage, happened on a set of stairs at Charles H. Wilson Park in Torrance.
Berry was working out on the staircase when the other woman – now identified as Hernandez – bumped into her.
The younger woman responds to the bump by saying ‘Jesus’ just seconds before Hernandez launches into a racially charged tirade.
‘Hey, listen to me! We don’t play games here anymore. Next time you ever talk to me like that you’re going to get you a** kicked by my family. They’re going to f*** you up!’ Hernandez says.
Berry questions what she did to cause the sudden outburst, only for Hernandez to continue hurling insults and saying, ‘because you’re an a******.’
Who wears black in California sun? Who the f*** wears black?
‘Why don’t you go somewhere else?’ Hernandez says. ‘Get the f*** out of this world, get the f*** out of these stairs, go back to whatever f****** Asian country you belong in!
‘This is not your place; this is not your home. We do not want you here!’ the woman adds.
She then added: ‘You put that on Facebook, I hope you do because every f****** person will beat the crap out of you from here on out.
‘Don’t you ever say, ‘oh Jesus’ to me when I want to use the stairs you little b****.’
The victim points out that there are other stairs located throughout the park, but to no avail as Hernandez continues her tirade.
‘You are a sick, f****** ignorant teenager… Who wears black in California sun? Who the f*** wears black? Are you an idiot? You wear black in California sun? Seriously?’
After Berry’s video went viral, a 42-year-old father who wished to remain anonymous shared a further video from June 10, the same day of Berry’s run-in with Hernandez, which shows her hurling racist abuse at him at the same park.
His eleven-year-old son was also in the car and witnessed the abuse as Hernandez is heard telling the man to ‘go home’ on the orders of her government.
Hernandez also mocks the man which accents and by calling him ‘Chinaman’.
Remember the racist Karen from Torrance, California yesterday?
She’s back today and in the clubhouse with a 59.
KOY. Karen of the Year is hers to lose… pic.twitter.com/QAuGFKwyUg
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 11, 2020
October 11, 2019 racist incident
‘I am not a racist person. You need to go home,’ she says.
‘I am from here,’ he answers, to which she says, ‘I don’t care about your Facebook. You know how many people can’t stand you being here. I don’t play games, you play games, I play games where you get f****d to death.’
As the man gets out of his car to take her license plate number, Hernandez continues with her mocking accents and pretending that she can’t understand him.
‘Do you know who my family is? Do you know who your family is?’ Hernandez continues.
‘Go home this is from my government. Go home, you are so f****d, you’re gonna get f****d, your kids are gonna get f****d. This is my country, and this is my government. Go home.’
After seeing Sherry’s video, Kayceelyn Salminao also came forward to say that she had filed a police report against who she believed to be the same woman last October.
She shared pictures of a woman who looks to be Lena Hernandez of Long Beach from the day as she claimed that it was the same person who had attacked her at the Del Amo mall on October 11, 2019.
‘Photos of her walking away while I was waiting for the cops,’ she wrote. ‘This white lady!’
Salminao had come to the aid of a janitor, she says, who Hernandez was alleged shouting at for no reason when the other woman became physical with her.
Here are some pics from a gathering at Wilson Park in Torrance to fight against Lena Hernandez, who has been assaulting people and going on a racist tirade.
Attendees wore black because of her comment saying “Who wears black in CA sun?” 🤣#torrance #wilsonpark pic.twitter.com/sxw9WCKsCg
— Reina (@reinajadetail) June 12, 2020
A community rallies against racism as calls are made to locate racist 56 year old woman
‘She came out and physically shoves me to the ground, I physically fell to the ground. She points at me and says you better not get up or else,’ Salminao told CBS Los Angeles.
‘She grabs my hair; she pulls my head down and then she’s starting to hit me on the back of my head. She’s saying all those really mean words just like the video.’
Salminao’s husband rushed to her aid and she was able to take pictures of Hernandez before she left.
She filed a police report after the incident but did not hear back from the authorities.
‘Who else has she done this to?’ Salminao asked.
Police have asked any member of the public who has encountered Hernandez to contact them.
Berg said that police had visited multiple locations to find the suspect but have not had any success.
She added that they are looking at the possibility that mental illness may have played a role in the incidents.
The videos follow recent captured video of other ‘racist’ episodes in the US in recent weeks which call into question widespread attitudes and the abuse and injustice that minorities in the US continue to be subjected to.
Racism in America unchecked
The latest video comes off the heels of nation wide protests for racial justice across the United States in lieu of revelations of egregious behavior of police, particularly towards African Americans.
It wasn’t until video of a Minneapolis white police officer kneeling on the neck of black suspect, George Floyd, for nearly nine minutes, only for the suspect to die that the US seemingly imploded with citizens expressing outrage and demonstrating in the streets against police brutality and systematic racism.
Instances of racism against Asian Americans have also surged during the coronavirus pandemic with several examples recorded on a representative list by the Anti-Defamation League.
