(FOX40.COM) — Police are investigating a physical assault in Sacramento’s Lavender Heights neighborhood that may have been a hate crime.
VIDEO: Sacramento LGBT Community Center relocating (March 2026)
The Sacramento Police Department responded to the assault near 20th Street and L Street in midtown Sacramento at around 1 a.m. Sunday. Officers located the victim, who had minor injuries and “may have lost consciousness” before police arrived.
The suspect in the assault fled the scene prior to the officers responding.
Sacramento PD filed the overnight attack as a “felony assault bias report” based on the terms the suspect used to refer to the victim before assaulting them.
According to a statement from the Sacramento LGBT Community Center on Monday, the suspect used “racist and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs” during the assault.
Lavender Heights, the area where the assault occurred, is a historically queer neighborhood, the community center explained in the statement.
“The location of this attack makes it especially painful,” the community center said in the release. “For generations, the LGBTQ+ community has built spaces within Lavender Heights, where we can gather, celebrate, organize, find family and live openly.”
Lavender Heights, Sacramento’s historically queer neighborhood and the site of an assault Monday, Aug. 31.
The possible hate crime comes a week before the Sacramento Rainbow Festival, an event held every Labor Day weekend to celebrate queer culture and raise money for charities. The community center is collaborating with the police department ahead of the event to increase safety measures in response to the assault.
Ahead of the festival, Sacramento PD will increase patrols in the area and place a “camera trailer” at 20th and L Streets while coordinating with private security teams and local businesses, the community center said.
Sacramento PD is actively investigating the assault and encourages anyone with helpful information or video footage to call its bias and hate crime hotline at 916-808-2427.
According to the LGBT community center, Sacramento residents could receive a cash reward of up to $1000 for submitting a tip through the Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers website, because of a contribution from the Midtown Association.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News.