A man faces attempted murder and hate crime charges in a metal pipe attack on two Black people in Santa Monica, police said on Friday, March 10, 2023. (Image from Santa Monica Police Department)

A man faces attempted murder and hate crime charges after police say he struck a Black man and woman with a metal pipe after an attempted attack on another Black man out walking his dog. That attack was foiled when a fire department crew spotted the assault and fended him off.

Job Uriah Taylor was arrested in the attacks on March 3 in Santa Monica, California, according to a news release Friday from the Santa Monica Police Department.  One victim was taken to a hospital and released the same day. The other was treated for a head injury. The man walking his dog was not injured.

“Taylor yelled several racial slurs at the victim,” police said.

After the first attack, police said the suspect rode away on a bicycle and police could not find him. But then the police got a call about an assault on a train platform. There, police said Taylor attacked a Black man and a woman with the same pipe he had in the earlier attack. He hit them several times in the head while yelling racial slurs, police said.

He was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and one count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, officials said. He also faces hate crime allegations, officials said.

“It is the mission of the Santa Monica Police Department to safeguard the rights of all individuals irrespective of their disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and/or association with a person or group with one or more of these perceived characteristics,” police said. “Hate crimes have no place in Santa Monica.”

Santa Monica recently documented several hate crimes in 2022. In one, a suspect yelled anti-Semitic statements while following victims on a pier ramp.

In another, a suspect made anti-Arabic statements about the victim and threw a water bottle at the victim, striking him in the back.

Police reported another case in which a suspect threw urine on a victim and struck the victim with an umbrella while yelling a racial slur.

In another incident, a suspect yelled racial slurs at a victim, struck the victim with a tent pole, and then choked the victim.

In another case, a suspect made anti-Jewish comments and pushed the victim. The victim slapped the suspect, then the suspect dragged the victim to the ground and punched the victim.

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