The family and friends of a popular celebrity hairstylist savagely attacked outside a Los Angeles gay nightclub fear he was targeted because of his race or sexuality in a brutal hate crime.
Alberto Vasquez, 53, was beaten unconscious and left for dead as he left Heart Weho in the Rainbow District of West Hollywood at 8 pm on Friday, April 5.
The stylist, who has worked for studios and catwalks in Paris and New York, spent more than a week seriously ill in an ICU, and doctors were forced to remove part of his skull to relieve pressure on a swelling in his brain.
His family fears he will never fully recover and that his attacker may target other gay men.
“We feel it is an attack on homosexuals,” said Sister Gloria Jiménez. ‘They didn’t rob him.
Alberto Vasquez, 53, was brutally attacked and left for dead outside an LGBT nightclub in West Hollywood last week.
His family does not know if he will ever fully recover from the attack that left him unconscious and needing emergency brain surgery to save his life.
“He has wounds all over his body, on his neck, we don’t know if he will ever be the same again.”
“He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t hurt anyone, we know that for a fact, I mean, he’s harmless and leaving him almost for dead is horrible.”
Vasquez was leaving the nightclub to meet friends at the nearby Gym Bar, but never arrived.
He was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center in the early hours of Saturday morning after a passerby saw him unconscious and bleeding in a car park next to the nightclub.
But it was five days before his family could reach him when a hospital nurse answered a call on his cell phone.
“You can see that the blow to the face was in the eye,” Jiménez told KTLA.
“His skull was fractured around the eye socket.”
West Hollywood, which incorporated as a city in 1984, states on its website that more than 40 percent of its residents identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.
‘For more than three decades, West Hollywood It has been one of the most influential small cities in the country; No other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national progressive public policy agenda.’
“He’s the kind of person who wouldn’t hurt anyone, we know that for sure,” said his sister Gloria Jimenez, “I mean, he’s harmless and leaving him almost for dead is horrible.”
The popular stylist has worked on runways and salons across the country and abroad.
“We need to find out who did this to our wonderful friend, brother and uncle,” wrote friend and colleague Michelle Hansen (pictured).
Vásquez was photographed with Emmy Award-winning actress Elisabeth Moss on Instagram
“We are relieved that he is expected to survive, but he will need multiple surgeries, has possible brain damage, and has a long road to recovery,” his GoFundMe appeal notes.
“We feel it’s an attack on homosexuals,” said Sister Gloria Jiménez (pictured). “They didn’t rob him.”
Vásquez, who counts Emmy Award winner Elisabeth Moss among her friends, has had a GoFundMe appeal established in his name which has already raised $47,000 of its $50,000 goal.
“We don’t know if he was randomly attacked by a stranger in what could be a homophobic or racist hate crime, or if he was attacked by someone he interacted with at one of the bars,” administrator Brett Foreman wrote.
‘Alberto was taken by EMS to a hospital on Saturday morning and spent the past week in critical condition.
“We are relieved that he is expected to survive, but he will need multiple surgeries, has possible brain damage and has a long road to recovery.”
“While we await further details on his recovery timeline from medical staff, we are beginning to raise money that will be used to cover medical and living expenses as he will be unable to work for the foreseeable future.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is leading the investigation but has not yet identified any suspects.
Michelle Hansen, salon manager at Pony Studios in Oakland, where Alberto had worked, said the attacker must be caught before he finds another victim.
“We need to find out who did this to our wonderful friend, brother and uncle,” he wrote.