Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles have appealed to the public for help in capturing a man they say has slashed the faces of at least four people, seemingly at random, as he rides through the city on a bicycle.


The Los Angeles Police Department released photo and video images of the suspect, described as a Latino man between 18 and 30 with a shaved head, wearing a dark brown shirt with a white design and riding a black and green mountain bike.


Investigators said it was not clear what prompted the attacks across south Los Angeles and surrounding communities or even what he was using for a weapon.


“For no reason at all he would strike the victims across the face holding something sharp in his hand. Then he would ride away,” Lieutenant Paul Patterson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told the Los Angeles Times.


The latest two attacks took place on Monday, the LAPD said in a statement, when officers responding to a radio call around 8:40 p.m. found a man suffering from a severe wound to the left side of his face.


About 15 minutes later, a young woman was slashed nearby.


“He just came in back of me and hit me,” Stefany Coboz told local KNBC-TV, displaying a stitched and bandaged wound in her neck that she said would leave permanent scarring. “I just started looking at him, he looked back, I grabbed myself full of blood.”


Coboz said her assailant did not speak to her but laughed as he rode away.


The string of attacks began on March 20, when a male victim was severely injured by the slasher around 7:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department.


A second victim suffered a cut to the face shortly after 11 a.m. on March 27 in the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate, according to police officials.