FOX 11 Los Angeles reporter Gina Silva says what happened at a Pomona laundromat started like any other day, and then flipped into something that felt like a nightmare on loop.
Silva reports it all unfolded at Super Wash N Dry on Fairplex Drive on a Saturday morning, with customers inside doing laundry like normal.
Then, Silva says, a man armed with a machete stormed in, yelling and acting so aggressive that people immediately realized this wasn’t just a loud argument.
The part that makes your stomach drop is how fast it moved. In Silva’s telling, it went from “ordinary errands” to “everybody run” in seconds.
And because it was captured on security video, Silva says there’s no confusion about the fear inside that building.
Why A Red 49ers Jersey Became The Trigger
Gina Silva reports the suspect appeared to focus on the owner’s 16-year-old son, and the teenager’s red San Francisco 49ers jersey became the target.
The owner, Phil Hernandez, told Silva the man was “highly erratic” and “very aggressive,” and he believed the suspect was on drugs.
Hernandez also told Silva the man was yelling what sounded like street and neighborhood rhetoric – he thought it was “F the west side,” or something close to that.
Silva says the suspect seemed enraged specifically because of the color red, not because of any personal history between them.
Hernandez explained to Silva that when his son turned a corner inside the laundromat, the man pointed him out and demanded he “get that red shirt off.”
That’s a wild detail, because it shows this wasn’t a disagreement over money or a bumped shoulder or anything normal.
It was more like the teen became a symbol in the suspect’s mind, a walking “wrong color” problem, and the machete made that obsession instantly dangerous.
It’s hard to hear that and not think about how a sports jersey – something millions of people wear every week – can turn into a lightning rod when someone is looking for a reason to explode.
Customers Run While Doors Get Held Shut
Silva describes the moment the mood changes, when customers realize there’s “a lunatic with a machete” inside the laundromat.
People don’t debate what to do in that situation. They move, and they move fast.
Phil Hernandez told Gina Silva that customers started trying to lock the building down to keep the man contained or push him out.
But Hernandez also told Silva there was a problem: one side didn’t have a deadbolt, so he had to physically hold the doors shut.
That’s one of those details you don’t think about until you’re living it. A missing lock turns into the difference between a barrier and a break-in.
Silva reports that as Hernandez held those doors, the suspect came up still ranting, still focused on the same thing – “the red.”
Hernandez told Silva he was wearing a red hat himself, and the suspect kept going, almost like the color alone was enough to keep him fired up.
Then Silva describes the moment the threat becomes damage: the suspect swings at the window.
The glass shatters, and Silva says he continues ranting after that, like breaking the window was part of the performance.
Silva adds another strange piece: after the window breaks, the man makes hand gestures that appear to be gang signs, and then finally walks away.
It’s the kind of scene that leaves everyone standing there afterward, blinking, trying to process what just happened and how nobody got cut.
What Witnesses Said Out Loud
Gina Silva includes a customer’s reaction that sounds like pure shock.
A customer identified as Darlene G told Silva, “It was very crazy. It’s very scary,” and then added that people are “cracked out” doing who-knows-what out on the street.
That’s not a polished statement, but it’s real. People don’t use perfect words when they’re still shaking.
And it lines up with what Hernandez told Silva about the man’s behavior, because both of them are describing the same thing: somebody acting out of control and dangerous.
Silva’s reporting doesn’t claim a confirmed motive or diagnosis, but the people closest to it are saying it looked like the suspect was under the influence.
Hernandez told Silva directly, “To me, that was nothing but drugs.”
That kind of statement matters for understanding how this felt in the moment. When a stranger storms into a business with a machete, your brain starts searching for an explanation, even if there isn’t a satisfying one.
Sometimes the explanation is just: this person should not have been walking around free to roam into public spaces while carrying a weapon and acting like that.
The Police Response And The Search For The Suspect
Silva reports that by Tuesday afternoon, Pomona police returned to the laundromat and were downloading security video to help identify the suspect.
That tells you investigators believe the footage is useful, and that the suspect’s face, clothing, or movements might give someone a lead.
Silva also reports the suspect has not been arrested, which is the part that tends to stick with local business owners and customers.
It’s one thing to survive an incident. It’s another thing to know the person who did it might still be out there, walking into another store, another laundromat, another random place.
Silva ends with a clear public message: if you recognize the man, contact the Pomona Police Department.
That’s the simple ask, but it’s also a reminder that a lot of cases like this get solved because somebody sees a clip and says, “That’s him.”
Why This Story Hits A Nerve
Gina Silva’s report lands hard because the setting is so normal.
A laundromat isn’t a nightclub at 2 a.m. It’s families, workers, kids, and people trying to catch up on life.
So when violence shows up there, it sends a message that nowhere is “too ordinary” to be touched by chaos.
The other reason it hits is the randomness of the “trigger.”
A red 49ers jersey is the kind of thing someone throws on without thinking.
In Silva’s reporting, it becomes the reason a teen gets singled out by an armed stranger, like the color is somehow a provocation.
That’s frightening, because it means the rules can change depending on what unstable person walks through the door that day.
And if the suspect was flashing what looked like gang signs, as Silva described, the whole incident starts to feel like a messy collision between street culture, paranoia, and a public space that never signed up for any of it.
The Small Safety Details People Forget Until It’s Too Late
Phil Hernandez’s comments to Gina Silva about holding the doors shut because there was no deadbolt might be the most practical detail in the whole story.
People often think of safety as “call police” or “add cameras.”
But Hernandez was describing the basic stuff – locks, barriers, the ability to keep someone from re-entering once you push them out.
A laundromat is built for convenience: open doors, flow of customers, easy access.
That’s great for business, until someone shows up with a machete and those same open, welcoming features become vulnerabilities.
It’s hard not to look at that and think businesses shouldn’t have to become fortresses just to operate.
But stories like the one Silva reported are exactly why owners start making those changes anyway.
A Teen Was Targeted, And That Matters
One of the most upsetting parts of Silva’s report is that the teen wasn’t just present—he was picked out.
Hernandez told Silva the suspect demanded his son remove the red shirt.
That’s a specific kind of intimidation. It’s not just “get out.” It’s “change what you are wearing because I say so.”
When someone with a weapon starts issuing commands like that, it’s not just a threat to safety, it’s a threat to dignity.
And it’s even worse when it’s directed at a kid who’s just there because it’s his family’s business. Silva’s report makes it clear the best outcome happened – no one was physically hurt.
But “nobody got cut” isn’t the same thing as “everybody is fine.” People who run from a machete in a public place don’t forget that sound of panic quickly.
The Case Is Still Open, And The Ending Isn’t Here Yet
Gina Silva reports the suspect walked away, and that’s where the story stops for now.
No arrest, no name released in the report, just video evidence and a police department trying to match a face to an identity.
Silva also makes the tone of it plain: it was “absolutely crazy,” and she’s thankful the teenager and customers weren’t hurt.
That gratitude is real, but it sits next to an obvious question – what happens next time, if the wrong person is in the wrong place, wearing the “wrong” color, and the attacker doesn’t stop at breaking a window?
Until Pomona police identify and arrest the suspect, this isn’t just a scary clip from a Saturday morning.
It’s a warning, caught on camera, showing how quickly a simple errand can turn into a sprint for your life.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
