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A man has been filmed brutally attacking a 24-year-old woman with a hammer after asking her if she was Korean.
The attack occurred on Friday evening in a mall in Los Angeles's Koreatown.
The man was filmed approaching the woman first to ask her if she was Korean then reappeared clutching the weapon in his hand.
Witnesses told KTLA he struck her more than 20 times in under a minute before they were able to stop him.
The woman was standing waiting for a friend in front of a row of shops on the exterior balcony of the mall when he approached her at around 6pm.
She was filmed on surveillance footage innocently answering his question then looking back towards the parking lot beneath her.He reappeared calmly from behind another corner with the hammer in his right hand. He strode up towards her then swung his arm back to land his first blow.
It's likely he was carrying the hammer in his backpack.Passers-by rushed to help the woman who they said screamed for him to stop for around 45 seconds.
One man was able to get him to put the hammer on the ground and held him down until police arrived.
The man was charged with attempted murder and a hate crime.
The woman was taken to hospital but has been released. Police have not yet named the man or given details of his arrest.