Man Apparently Lured by Women, Then Ambushed by Man With Baseball Bat and Robbed in Hotel Parking Lot

After a man was apparently lured by two women to a hotel parking lot in Van Nuys and then beaten by a man with a baseball bat who was hiding nearby, detectives are seeking the public's help in identifying the trio by releasing surveillance footage of the violent attack.

The Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Area Robbery unit released the surveillance video footage Wednesday in hopes of tracking down three people involved in the ambush robbery of a man who was beaten with a baseball bat nearly seven months ago.

Police said the victim nearly died from the attack after receiving multiple head fractures and a "shattered face."

The released security video shows the victim walking with two women, who are believed to be accomplices in the crime. The man was attacked at about 1:15 a.m. Jan. 18 in the 5500 block of Sepulveda Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The surveillance video shows one woman motioning with her hands to a man hiding nearby. The man approaches the victim from behind with a wooden baseball bat and strikes him on the head multiple times.

"At some point, the victim passes out, gets knocked down to the floor, where he loses consciousness. And the suspect continues to hit him in the face with the bat, over and over again," LAPD Detective Peter Barba said.

After beating the victim, the man discarded the wooden baseball bat and took the victim's wallet and cellphone, police said. The attacker and two women fled after that.

Investigators said the victim met the two women through a social media dating site. Police said these types of robberies are quite common, but they go unreported because male victims may be embarrassed to reveal that they were attacked.