LOS ANGELES, CA – A man who stabbed a stranger in the face and continued attacking him aboard a Los Angeles Metro bus was sentenced Thursday to life in prison plus seven years in a hate crime case, prosecutors said.
Gerald Pitts was sentenced with the possibility of parole for the attempted murder of Santos Tejas Gonzalez, who survived the March 2023 attack despite suffering life-threatening injuries.
The attack occurred around 9 p.m. on March 25, 2023, after Gonzalez boarded a Metro bus and attempted to walk past Pitts to find a seat, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said Pitts immediately began shouting racial slurs at Gonzalez.
When Gonzalez tried to leave the bus near Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard to avoid the confrontation, Pitts stabbed him multiple times in the abdomen, arm, hand and face, prosecutors said.
Surveillance video of the attack showed Gonzalez falling backward inside the bus with what appeared to be a knife protruding from his face. Pitts was then seen continuing to grab at the weapon and strike Gonzalez as the victim tried to escape.
As Gonzalez fell from the bus, Pitts repeatedly kicked him in the head while continuing to yell racial slurs, according to prosecutors.
Gonzalez survived the attack.
A jury convicted Pitts on June 16 of attempted murder. Jurors also found that the attack was committed willfully, deliberately and with premeditation.
The jury further found that Pitts personally used a knife, inflicted great bodily injury and committed the attack in whole or in part because of Gonzalez’s actual or perceived nationality, race or ethnicity.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the sentence during a Thursday news conference focused on hate crime prosecutions across the county.
“A hate crime is more than just a criminal act against one person, it tears at the fibers that hold our community together,” Hochman said. “These crimes are meant to intimidate entire communities and weaken the trust that holds us together.”
Information reviewed by Street People indicates prosecutors used the case to highlight a broader push to pursue hate crime allegations where bias is tied to an underlying criminal act.
Hochman said his office has increased hate crime prosecutions in recent years and pointed to a rise in the proportion of cases motivated by religious bias.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said reported hate crimes in the city have shown signs of decline after reaching what he described as a record high in 2023.
According to McDonnell, the LAPD recorded 838 hate crimes in 2023. Through the end of July 2026, reported hate crimes were down nearly 4% compared with the same period last year.
McDonnell cautioned that reported numbers do not fully capture the scope of hate crimes, noting that some victims may not come forward because of fear of retaliation or distrust of the criminal justice system.
During the news conference, Hochman also highlighted several pending hate crime prosecutions across Los Angeles County, including cases involving alleged attacks or threats targeting transgender people, Jewish and Muslim communities, Latinos and other protected groups.
Those cases include alleged assaults and threats against a transgender shopkeeper near MacArthur Park, antisemitic threats directed at a rabbi during a Shabbat prayer service, antisemitic graffiti on Jewish-owned or affiliated businesses, vandalism and threats at an Islamic school, and other alleged bias-motivated attacks across the county.
Hochman also emphasized the legal distinction between hate speech and a hate crime, saying offensive or hateful speech alone is generally protected by the First Amendment.
When bias is connected to an underlying criminal act and the crime is motivated in whole or in part by a person’s protected status, prosecutors can pursue hate crime charges, he said.
“We want to make sure the public knows that we’re doing something about it,” Hochman said. “And if it happens to them, we’ll also take that into consideration, build that case up through lawful means, and then prosecute those individuals as well.”
