News Releases

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that his office charged a man today with assaulting Olympic athlete Kimberly Glass with a metal object.

“This was a brutal, unprovoked attack. Mr. Tesfamariam has a troubling history of attacking apparently random people with dangerous weapons. His behavior appears to have escalated with time. We have asked the court to preventatively detain him to protect the public. The court granted that request and he is currently being held without bail,” District Attorney Gascón said.

His first felony assault occurred in 2018 and the second in 2019. He was initially sentenced to a probationary sentence and later received a state prison term and was on parole at the time of this offense.

Semeon Tesfamariam (dob 7/16/70) faces one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon and includes allegations that Tesfamariam caused great bodily injury and of being previously convicted in 2020 of a serious and/or violent felony. He faces 11 years in state prison if convicted.

Arraignment was scheduled today but a doubt was declared regarding the defendant's competency to stand trial.  A hearing is now set for Aug. 12 in Department 30 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

On July 8, Tesfamariam allegedly approached the victim and threw a 10-inch metal bolt at her face resulting in serious injuries. Good Samaritans at the scene detained the defendant while police arrived.  Our Bureau of Victims Services has reached out to Ms. Glass to make all services available to her.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.