A woman who was arrested on suspicion of attacking a 13-year-old girl in a crime caught on cell phone video inside a McDonald’s restaurant in Harbor City was charged Monday with a felony child abuse count.
Ariana Lauifi, 31, is set to be arraigned Oct. 23 in a Long Beach courtroom on one felony count of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Lauifi was arrested last Thursday by the Los Angeles Police Department and released on $100,000 bond just before 1 a.m. Monday, jail records show.
She is suspected in the Sept. 6 attack on 13-year-old Kassidy Jones, who went into the restaurant in the 1700 block of Lomita Boulevard with friends when she was attacked, seemingly without provocation.
Police credited tips from the public for leading investigators to Lauifi. There was still no word on a possible motivation for the attack, which left Kassidy with facial bruises.
The girl’s family issued a statement saying they were “extremely grateful that the LAPD has made an arrest of the woman who viciously beat Kassidy in an unprovoked attack inside McDonald’s, as McDonald’s managers and onlookers offered no help in stopping the assault.
“Kassidy is still traumatized and undergoing therapy. But hopefully this news will give her encouragement that justice will be served.”