LOS ANGELES _ Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the robbery and beating of a group of transgender women in Hollywood earlier this week that police are now calling a hate crime.
Investigators made two arrests in the last two days, according to the Los Angeles Police Department Hollywood Division Capt. Steve Lurie. He could not immediately provide additional information, but a news conference was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Video widely shared on social media shows a man threatening Eden the Doll, Jaslene Whiterose and Joslyn Flawless around 2 a.m. Monday in the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard. All three women are influencers with large social media followings.
In the video, a man is seen threatening Flawless with a crowbar as he robs her and then hits Whiterose over the head with something as bystanders laugh and taunt the women.
Police said the man demanded Flawless' shoes and bracelet while threatening her with the weapon and struck Whiterose with a bottle _ all while making "derogatory remarks" about their gender identity.
"He held a crow bar to my face and threatened to kill me unless I stripped my shoes off and gave him my jewelry and all my (possessions). He said if I was trans he would kill me," Flawless wrote on Instagram.
During a Police Commission meeting earlier this week, some members of the public questioned 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 en route to another emergency call but promised to investigate the matter further.
