Fears grow as teens on e-bikes are violently attacking people at the popular Los Angeles beach

Hermosa Beach is supposed to be one of those easygoing Southern California spots.

Sand, sun, and families on the pier.

But if you listen to what Gina Silva of FOX 11 Los Angeles and Jeff Nguyen of CBS LA are reporting, a very different picture is forming.

Groups of teens on e-bikes are being linked to violent attacks.

One man was knocked unconscious.

Another needed 14 staples in his head.

And so far, there are still no arrests.

Two Brutal Attacks, Same Beachfront Neighborhood

FOX 11 anchors Marla Tellez and Laura Diaz opened their “L.A. Live” broadcast by calling it what it is: two “brutal attacks” in Hermosa Beach, both reportedly involving mobs of teenagers on e-bikes.

In the first case, which FOX 11 reported over the weekend, a man walking home with a pizza on Friday night was jumped by a group of teens.

He was beaten so badly he was left unconscious in the alley.

Now, reporter Gina Silva says another victim has come forward with a similar story.

His attack happened weeks earlier, in broad daylight, in the very same neighborhood near the Hermosa Beach pier.

Silva says residents are alarmed, and the man she spoke to is demanding that something change.

Ambushed Near The Pier

Gina Silva spoke with Hart Cardozo, a 66-year-old Hermosa Beach resident, who says he was ambushed on Oct. 28 between 2 and 3 p.m.

Cardozo tells Silva he was stopped near the pier in his car when a group of teens on e-bikes surrounded his vehicle.

He says they hit his car, slashed his tires, and yelled obscenities at him. When he got out of the car, Cardozo says one of the teens struck him in the head with an object.

He doesn’t know exactly what it was, but the impact was severe. Cardozo tells Silva he ended up with 14 staples in his head.

He describes being in “a lot of pain,” disoriented, and feeling like the whole experience was surreal.

“You don’t plan in Hermosa Beach to have something like that happen,” Cardozo says.

“I mean, it was traumatic for me.”

Cardozo tells FOX 11 he believes it’s the same group of teens that attacked the man carrying pizza on Friday night.

“When I saw that on the news, I said, enough is enough,” he tells Silva.

He says people in the community need to speak up and report what’s happening. “If this is going on in the community and you’re not talking about it, it needs to come out,” he says.

“I Want To Feel Safe In My Community – And I Don’t”

For Cardozo, this isn’t just one bad afternoon.

In his interview with Gina Silva, he makes it clear he feels unsafe where he lives.

“They need to be arrested,” he says of the teens involved.

He also points a finger at parents.

“Whatever parents are facilitating this mischief, they really don’t know what’s going on with their kids,” Cardozo tells FOX 11.

“And yeah, I want resolution. I want to feel safe in my community and I don’t.”

Silva reports that the Hermosa Beach Police Department says it is aware of Cardozo’s case and is investigating.

She urges viewers that if they recognize any of the kids seen in videos of these incidents, they should contact Hermosa Beach police.

That last part says a lot.

These attacks are happening in busy, well-known areas, and yet the suspects are still only “teens on e-bikes” with no names released.

Pizza Run Turns Into Alleyway Beating

CBS LA reporter Jeff Nguyen picks up the story from the other major incident – the attack on the man walking home with pizza.

Nguyen reports from an alley off 11th Street near Hermosa Avenue, pointing out that there are plenty of security cameras in the area.

New video, he says, shows the man carrying a pizza box as he walks down the alley and encounters a group of teens on e-bikes.

You can’t hear what’s said, but Nguyen notes that the situation escalates quickly.

Soon, the punching and kicking begin.

The victim goes down.

Nguyen says the man is hit with an object while he’s on the ground.

Witness Matt Terrell tells Nguyen he watched the beating, called 911, and then rushed in to help the victim.

On the video Nguyen plays, you can hear a voice pleading, “Help me!”

It’s a raw, disturbing moment.

Police Say It Was “Not A Targeted Assault”

In his report, Jeff Nguyen explains that the Hermosa Beach Police Department posted about the November 21 attack on its Instagram account.

Police wrote that the incident was “not a targeted assault” and said the man had first initiated contact with the juveniles.

The department also claimed the object used against the victim in the video was a cardboard pizza box.

That description has not gone over well with some locals.

Witness Matt Terrell tells Nguyen he strongly disagrees with the way the police post describes what happened.

“In my opinion, they’re trying to minimize the damage and the harm that was done to the victim in this case,” Terrell says.

He argues that the police statement is already starting to flip the story.

“They’re beginning, in my opinion, the process of turning the victim into the instigator to some degree,” Terrell tells CBS LA.

On the question of the weapon, Terrell is equally blunt.

“There was much more than a pizza box used,” he says.

He tells Nguyen that the video “indisputably” shows six people, “each using two feet to kick the victim as hard as possible.”

No Arrests, Many Questions

Nguyen reports that the police Instagram post also said the victim has been released from the hospital and spoke with officers on Monday.

Hermosa Beach officers have also spoken with one juvenile’s parent, who contacted police after recognizing their child in the assault videos.

But Terrell notes that there appear to be six attackers in the video.

“So far we’ve only heard about one getting turned in,” he tells Nguyen.

Terrell says he wants to see accountability, specifically in the form of assault charges against the teens.

Police, according to Nguyen, say there’s no evidence that the beating was a premeditated attack.

CBS LA reached out to the Hermosa Beach Police Department for an interview, but Nguyen reports they did not get a response.

Meanwhile, neighbors are left wondering why, with cameras and witnesses, no arrests have yet been made.

Are Teens Treating This Like A Game?

Back on FOX 11, anchors Marla Tellez and Laura Diaz ask Gina Silva a question a lot of viewers are probably thinking.

Do these attacks look like some sort of “game,” or maybe part of a social media challenge encouraging kids to randomly target drivers or people walking by?

Silva says it’s “very possible,” but adds that they don’t know yet.

She explains that Hart Cardozo definitely felt like his attack was coordinated.

Cardozo told her the teens approached his car on both sides and hit his vehicle, which led to an argument.

Silva says that’s when things “went wild” — slashed tires, the swarm around his car, and the blow to his head when he stepped out.

FOX 11’s Gina Silva also points out something law enforcement has said many times in other road-rage or swarm situations:

If something like this happens, do not get out of your car.

She notes that police warn drivers that exiting the vehicle often makes them more vulnerable, and that’s exactly what happened to Cardozo.

That advice might feel frustrating to people who think, “I’m not just going to sit there,” but Silva’s report shows why staying inside can be the safer move.

A Beach Community On Edge

When you put the FOX 11 and CBS LA reports side by side, you get a bigger picture of what’s happening in Hermosa Beach.

You have a 66-year-old man like Hart Cardozo, who tells Gina Silva he no longer feels safe in his own community.

You have a pizza-carrying pedestrian beaten on the ground by a group of teens, as described by Jeff Nguyen and witness Matt Terrell.

You have police statements on Instagram that sound, at least to some neighbors, like they are softening the language and hinting that the victim “initiated” the situation.

And you have at least one suspect’s parent recognizing their child on video and coming forward – but no arrests announced yet.

For a popular Los Angeles-area beach town that sells itself as a laid-back, family destination, this is a jarring shift.

It’s not just about one crime.

It’s about people wondering if walking down an alley or driving near the pier could mean being surrounded by a pack of teens on e-bikes looking for trouble.

Why These Stories Feel So Disturbing

Part of what makes these reports by Gina Silva and Jeff Nguyen so unsettling is how ordinary the victims’ actions were.

Cardozo was driving by the pier in the afternoon. The other man was walking home with a pizza on a Friday night.

These aren’t people looking for a fight. They’re just living their lives.

Yet in both cases, a group of teens on e-bikes suddenly became a mob.

There’s also the sense that technology cuts both ways here. E-bikes give kids more speed and range than a regular bike.

Social media can spread videos of these attacks in seconds, but it can also encourage copycats or turn violence into “content.”

At the same time, those cameras and posts are exactly what let witnesses like Matt Terrell and reporters like Nguyen and Silva piece together what happened.

It’s a strange mix of exposure and delay – everyone can see the beatings, but justice is still moving slowly.

What Happens Next At Hermosa Beach

For now, Hermosa Beach Police say they are investigating both incidents.

Gina Silva reports that detectives are aware of Cardozo’s case and are asking the public for help.

Jeff Nguyen says officers have spoken with the pizza victim and one juvenile’s parent and insist the alley attack was not “premeditated” or “targeted.”

But people like Hart Cardozo and Matt Terrell clearly don’t feel that’s enough.

They want arrests.

They want charges.

And most of all, they want to feel safe again on their own streets and along their own beach.

If there’s any takeaway from the combined reporting of FOX 11’s Gina Silva and CBS LA’s Jeff Nguyen, it’s this:

A beautiful, popular beach town can still have a growing problem hiding in plain sight.

And until these e-bike mobs are identified and dealt with, a lot of people in Hermosa Beach are going to keep looking over their shoulders – even on a sunny day by the ocean.