Angel Sanchez Jr. Santa Barbara man arrested sucker punching grandfather as he crossed Calabasas street in California with grandchild. No known motive in random attack.
Authorities have arrested a Santa Barbara man seen in video sucker punching an elderly man as he pushed his grandchild in stroller across the road in California’s upscale neighborhood of Calabasas.
Angel Sanchez Jr. of Oxnard upon his arrest, a day after Tuesday afternoon’s unprovoked attack was charged with charge of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, KTLA reported.
He’s also suspected in a second attack against a boy that occurred around the same time in the same general area, investigators said. The sheriff’s department said both victims were of Asian-American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) descent but a motive is unclear.
Calabasas grandfather sucker punched
Video from a neighbor’s home security camera showed Sanchez dressed in a dark short-sleeve shirt and jeans with his cap on backwards, get out of a Honda Odyssey minivan and approach the victim on Lost Springs Road east of Lost Hills Road. The assailant appeared to punch the victim as he pushed the stroller, knocking the grandfather to the ground and the stroller onto its side.
The suspect is seen returning to the van and leaving the scene. The vehicle was described as a silver 2005 Honda Odyssey with Nevada license plate number 183W80. ABC7 reported the vehicle not belonging to Sanchez.
The un-named grandfather eventually finds his footing and checks on his 10-month-old granddaughter who can be seen lying in the stroller that landed on its side after the attack.
Reports told of the grandfather and the grandchild escaping serious injury. The victim did not know his assailant, ABC7 reported.
Hate crime?
Details about a motive and what led up to the attack were not immediately available. Photos of the attacker and minivan were released Wednesday by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigators.
‘Although both victims of the assaults were of Asian descent, the motive for the attacks is currently under investigation,’ said the sheriff’s department.
Calabasas neighborhood is a Mecca for the Hollywood elite and in October 2023, the median listing home price was $2.4M, trending up 13.1 percent year-over-year.
Neighborhood Scout listed Calabasas as safer than 35 percent of U.S. neighborhoods.
The number of violent crimes per year sat at 38 and property crimes totaled 282 annually.
Anyone with information was asked to contact the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff Station at 818-878-1808.
