Southern California women are learning to be more vigilant after recent random attacks

Jas Kang and Jennifer McGraw

2 hours ago

In light of recent attacks in Southern California, women across the Southland are learning how to better protect themselves from random acts of violence.

There have been several high-profile attacks on women in recent weeks, including the brutal assaults of two women walking near the canals of Venice.

The violence has prompted several Southern California women to take self-defense classes and stay vigilant in public.

A woman identified only as Melissa was attacked by a stranger living in her own neighborhood in October last year. She says the incident motivated her to learn how to protect herself.

“She kicked my dog ​​in the face and then started hitting me with open fists,” Melissa told KTLA 5’s Jennifer McGraw. “Cooked me completely by surprise. I have to worry about my own safety.”

Dave Kerr teaches self-defense classes at his Pasadena gym, FitSport Kinetics. He preaches to his students to always remain vigilant when walking alone and to learn the basics of how to respond if they ever fall victim to a random attack.

“You don’t want to be buried in your phone when you have earbuds and can’t hear anything,” Kerr said. “One of the things we teach is the simple practice of being aware of your surroundings.”

Jen Lester, also known as Stun Gun Jen, learned self-defense after learning from a close friend that she had been raped twice in the past four years. Lester worked as a 911 dispatcher for 12 years and wanted to use her experience to teach women how to protect themselves.

“It’s incredibly alarming, it’s something we see in our headlines all the time,” Lester said. “We see it all the time just in social media posts, there definitely seems to be an escalation.”

Lester adds that you should always have four important items with you to protect yourself as much as possible in the event of an attack.

“I have my alarm with GPS tracking, I have a stun device, I have a close-contact strike device and I have my pepper spray,” Lester said.

The self-defense expert says a lack of consequences for attackers is another reason the public needs to learn to protect themselves.

“If we are the consequence because we cannot enforce the consequences through our justice system, I believe we will see a slight decline,” Lester said. “But we have to start learning to be the consequence ourselves.”