Police arrest 41-year-old man in attack on elderly woman in Koreatown

A 41-year-old man was arrested Tuesday afternoon in the unprovoked attack of an elderly woman in Koreatown that left her with a cracked skull and bruised face, authorities said.

Richard Colomo, a transient, was booked on suspicion of felony battery and was being held on $105,000 bail, said Los Angeles Police Officer Mike Lopez.

Police did not say late Tuesday how detectives identified the suspect but said he’s the individual seen on security camera video at a nearby smoke shop running away from the area. Authorities initially said the man was a person of interest.

The attack occurred between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday, when Mi Reum Song, 85, was walking on the sidewalk. A man approached her and struck her in the head and face before she fell unconscious.

Police said Song was not robbed, but noted that there have been multiple attacks on elderly people in the area.

In a Facebook post that has been shared thousands of times since Sunday, Song’s granddaughter, Yujin Ko, said her grandmother was on the sidewalk near Olympic Boulevard and Vermont Avenue when she was “struck in her head” by an unknown assailant.

“There seemed to be no motive as he had no relation to her nor did he take any of her belongings,” Ko wrote.

Photos show Song with a knot in the middle of her forehead and both eyes swollen shut with deep purple bruising. A brown medical wrap covers the top of her skull, which Ko said was “split open.”

“She told me to let this go because she wants to forgive the man that did this but I cannot and I am livid,” Ko wrote, pleading for anyone who may have seen the attack to call police.

“In the least, let this be a lesson to everyone living in this area to please be vigilant and report any suspicious activity. You can’t be too safe,” she said.

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @AleneTchek

joseph.serna@latimes.com

Twitter: @JosephSerna