A 67-year-old Santa Monica man has been sentenced to life plus seven years in state prison for stabbing a stranger on an L.A. Metro bus while yelling racial slurs, in an attack prosecutors say was fueled by hate. Gerald Pitts was convicted of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and multiple special allegations, including committing a hate crime and causing great bodily injury, for the March 2023 assault on Santos Tejas Gonzalez, a Latino passenger who boarded the bus near Exposition Park.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the attack unfolded around 9 p.m. on a Saturday when Gonzalez tried to walk past Pitts to take a seat on the bus at the Western Avenue and Exposition Boulevard stop. Pitts pulled out a knife when Gonzalez tried to exit and stabbed him repeatedly in the abdomen, arm, hand and face, then kicked him in the head multiple times, leaving him with life-threatening injuries. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office says the attack was unprovoked and occurred as Gonzalez simply tried to find a place to sit.
A Los Angeles jury convicted Pitts on June 16 in case 26CJCF00325, finding true special allegations that he used a knife, inflicted great bodily injury, and committed a hate crime based on the victim's race or ethnicity, according to the DA's office. The Times reports the jury's findings amounted to a determination that Pitts committed a calculated act of violence against a stranger because of his race.
DA Ties Case to Broader Hate Crime Crackdown
District Attorney Nathan Hochman highlighted Pitts's conviction during a press conference alongside LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and regional police chiefs, according to MyNewsLA, which reported that law enforcement leaders gathered at the Hall of Justice to outline ten recent hate crime cases as part of a coordinated crackdown. Hochman said his office prioritizes aggressively prosecuting hate crimes, telling reporters that Pitts attacked a stranger because of his race or perceived race and that hate crime laws exist to address exactly this kind of violence.
Hochman said his responsibility is to protect the public, seek justice for victims and ensure the law is fully enforced, per the Times. He also pointed to the case of Job Uriah Taylor, saying his office successfully appealed a mental health diversion that had been granted to Taylor, who is scheduled to stand trial later this year. Taylor is accused of attacking three victims in a racially motivated rampage in downtown Santa Monica and has been charged with attempted murder and a hate crime special allegation; the Times reports he had been released from a psychiatric facility before the attack, and Taylor has bipolar disorder.
The Taylor case stems from a March 2023 pipe attack near Santa Monica's 5th Street Expo Station, and in June the California Supreme Court refused to review an appellate court ruling that had already blocked mental health diversion for him, according to the Santa Monica Lookout. That outlet reported Taylor was accused of beating three Black victims within an hour, shortly after leaving a psychiatric facility.
Hate Crimes Near Record Levels Countywide
The sentencing lands amid what the Times describes as near-historic hate crime levels in Los Angeles County. The county reported 1,355 hate crimes in 2024, a decrease of just 1% from the 2023 record high, averaging nearly four reported hate crimes per day. Those 2024 figures included 143 anti-Latino crimes, 345 anti-Black crimes, 135 antisemitic crimes and 102 anti-transgender crimes, according to the same reporting.
The Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations separately documented that 2024 total as the second-highest annual figure in the county's 44-year tracking history, trailing only the 1,367 incidents recorded in 2023. Anti-Black incidents made up 51% of all racial hate crimes countywide that year, the commission's report found, while anti-transgender hate crimes reached a record high of 102 documented incidents.
Statewide, the trend targeting Latino residents has also been climbing. Preliminary FBI data released in April showed anti-Latino hate crime incidents in California surged 14.8%, from 209 in 2024 to an all-time high of 240 in 2025, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Nationwide, anti-Latino hate crimes rose 18% during the same period.
What the Enhancement Means Under State Law
The hate crime finding against Pitts carries real weight in sentencing. Under California Penal Code Section 422.75, committing a felony as a hate crime adds a mandatory consecutive state prison sentence enhancement of one to three years, or two to four years if committed in concert with others, according to the Shouse Law Group. Prosecutors must first establish bias motivation under Penal Code Section 422.55 before such enhancements can apply.
The stabbing is one of several violent incidents aboard L.A. Metro buses and trains that have drawn scrutiny in recent years. Hoodline previously reported on a separate stabbing near USC and on a fatal Pershing Square stabbing that resulted in a 21-years-to-life sentence. L.A. Metro's own safety data recorded a 15.6% increase in violent crimes against persons in 2024 compared to 2023, including seven systemwide transit deaths and seven nonfatal passenger stabbings, according to Rose, Klein & Marias LLP. More recent Metro public safety reports published in February indicated violent crime across the bus and rail network decreased 6.7% in 2025 compared to 2024, which the agency attributed to increased uniformed security presence and access controls.
