Elderly female victim knocked unconscious last month
By Sam Catanzaro
Over the weekend, an 87-year-old man was the victim of an unprovoked attack near Santa Monica’s Reed Park with police later arresting a suspect. Now the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) has announced that they have arrested another man suspected of knocking unconscious an elderly female resident last month in a separate incident.
According to the SMPD, on November 16, 2019, around 6 p.m., officers responded to a radio call of a brutal assault that just occurred on a sidewalk in the 2100 block of 7th Street, a few blocks south of San Monica High School.
“An elderly female was followed while walking home from a local grocery store. Once the woman was off the main street, the suspect grabbed the victim from behind, took her to the ground and began to violently strangle her causing her to lose consciousness multiple times during the attack. A random car driving by caused the suspect to stop his attack and flee,” said SMPD Lieutenant Candice Cobarrubias.
After canvassing the neighborhood and reviewing surveillance videos from the area, the Santa Monica Criminal Investigations Division was able to identify the suspect as Kenneth Jordan Wilburn (11/21/91), a Sacramento resident. On December 3, 2019, Wilburn was taken into custody by the Santa Monica Police Department with the assistance of the Sacramento Police Department. Wilburn is being held on $60,000 bail. He is currently awaiting transport back to Los Angeles for the court proceedings.
The SMPD is seeking the public’s help in identifying any additional victims of similar assaults and those with information to share are encouraged to contact Detective Nicole Murphy at 310-458-8941 or the Watch Commander at 310-458-8427.
The news of Wilburn’s arrest comes just days after an 87-year-old resident was attacked unprovoked by a man while walking by Reed Park on Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica.
