Crime & Safety

Police: Armed Man Beats, Chokes Girlfriend

Carl Lamont Gates is held on charges of corporal injury after police say he threatened to kill his girlfriend in her Santa Monica apartment.

A 49-year-old man who allegedly choked his girlfriend until she lost consciousness last week is facing charges of corporal injury and assault with a deadly weapon.

The Santa Monica resident, Carl Lamont Gates, is being held in lieu of $340,000 bail after his arrest Jan. 25, jail records show.

He was taken into custody outside the girlfriend's apartment near Cloverfield Boulevard and Kansas Avenue after she escaped and yelled out to neighbors to call 911, according to the Santa Monica Police Department.

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The alleged attack was reportedly triggered by an argument. "The suspect began physically attacking the victim and stated he was going to kill her," police Sgt. Richard Lewis said. "During the assault, the suspect choked the victim until she lost consciousness."

The woman's 20-year-old son attempted to intervene, but Lamont allegedly began assaulting him, too, striking him several times in the head and the face.

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During the struggle, the son hit Gates in the head with a dutch oven and "at one point, the suspect produced a large kitchen knife and threatened to kill the victims," Lewis said.

The woman escaped, ran outside the apartment in the 2500 block of Kansas and yelled for neighbors to call 911, according to the police department.

"Officers arrived and set a perimeter around the apartment where the suspect was believed to be inside the victim's residence. The suspect was ordered out by officers and he complied," Lewis said.

The woman her son were taken to a local hospital where they were treated for moderate to severe injuries.

Lamont was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but the Los Angeles District Attorney instead charged him Jan. 27 of two counts of making criminal threats, corporal injury on a cohabitant and assault with a deadly weapon, court records show.

He pleaded not guilty and will appear in court again for a preliminary hearing Feb. 10, a D.A. spokeswoman said.

He was convicted twice in 2006 and once in 2008 of burglary. He's also been convicted of vandalism and drug possession. 


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