Evangelist David Ramirez was punched in the throat while preaching on the streets of West Hollywood. David Hoffman of Kingdom Enterprises was right next to him when the attack happened.
ANALYSIS
A Christian evangelist was recently assaulted during a street outreach in the “Rainbow District” in West Hollywood.
Saturday, August 15, 2026, around 2:00 a.m., David Ramirez of Kingdom Enterprises, a U.S.-based evangelism and outreach ministry, was participating in an evangelistic outreach when he was violently attacked for sharing the Gospel on a street corner.
In the video footage, Ramirez is seen hugging a member of the LGBT community after sharing that he loved everyone there but did not want them to go to hell, when an unidentified assailant came up from behind and “sucker punched” him. In the video, Ramirez turns, and immediately the assailant punches him two more times in the throat and walks away as those around begin to yell at and curse Ramirez. Immediately after, he is heard praising God and thanking Jesus, but within moments his voice disappears, and he is unable to speak.
When the police were called, they were uncooperative in searching for the assailant. Upon the advice of paramedics, Ramirez was later taken to the hospital, and it was found that the assault cracked cartilage in his thyroid and led to massive swelling in his vocal cords. He was quickly checked in and given strong steroids to diminish the swelling in his throat.
Throat injuries are known in the medical community to be some of the most life-threatening injuries. All combat sports prohibit punches or kicks to the throat due to their deadly nature. Though Ramirez’s injuries are serious and he cannot preach for four to six weeks without the risk of surgery, he is currently recovering and in good spirits.
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My name is David Hoffman, and I am the director of Kingdom Enterprises, the ministry that David Ramirez is a part of. I would like to shed more light on what happened that night because I was present before and after the incident.
Our ministry brings the Gospel to those in our culture who are not likely to ever walk into a church and, very often, have not been evangelized. This attack comes at the tail end of a summer of missions. Starting in June, our entire ministry spent six weeks sharing the Gospel, street preaching, and doing one-on-one evangelism throughout New York City. At the end of July, we came to Orange County, California, to share the Gospel at several events and throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
On Friday, August 14, our entire team, including Ramirez, spent the day sharing the Gospel at Santa Monica Pier, one of the busiest areas in Los Angeles. That evening, being a Friday night, our ministry wanted to go share the Gospel in a populated area, and in the past we have seen the Holy Spirit move powerfully when we preach in areas that have a high concentration of clubs and bars. It is not uncommon for people to come up to us asking for prayer for freedom from addictions of various kinds. We have seen people repent of their sins and commit their lives to Christ; we have seen many seeds sown, and we have seen, overall, a lot of great fruit from doing ministry in front of clubs.
That night, we headed to West Hollywood and Beverly Hills because we heard that these are the busiest places for nightlife in the area, and they happened to be very close to where we had been all day. Upon driving throughout the area, it was clear that West Hollywood was very busy, while some of the other places we heard about had sparse foot traffic. So our team decided to do outreach in West Hollywood.
What we did not know is that West Hollywood is the most densely populated LGBT community in the world; over 40% of the population identifies as LGBT. Without realizing it, we had just entered what is known as the “Rainbow District” — the gay bar and club district of West Hollywood. We didn’t go to West Hollywood to target any specific group(s), but neither do we avoid certain groups because of particular areas of sin they are trapped in. The Gospel is for everyone, and Jesus’ command to go into all the world didn’t exclude anyone.
Being the leader of the ministry, I always try to think strategically about how the team sets up. Even when I disagree with an establishment, I seek to position our team in a way that is not purposely rude or obnoxious to businesses. For example, we never block entrances, and we never set up our speakers pointing into a building. That evening, we found a closed weed dispensary on the corner of a very busy intersection. Because it was closed, we wouldn’t be interrupting business, which made it a prime location to do outreach from as people walked by on the crosswalk.
Almost immediately, the police who were patrolling the area came and told us that we could not be there preaching on our speakers. Though the noise level of all the clubs on the street greatly exceeded and outpowered our small speakers, the sergeant on duty told us that we were there to antagonize people and to get negative reactions from the community. I assured him that this was not the case, but he did not believe me.
He showed me California Penal Code 415, which says that the police had the right to ticket us, arrest us, and send us to jail because the law allowed them to do so to “any person who maliciously and willfully disturbs another person by loud and unreasonable noise.” He asked us many questions as to why we were “there,” specifically, as opposed to other places in Hollywood or downtown Los Angeles.
I explained to him that we saw that the area was packed with foot traffic and we felt like God wanted us there to share the Gospel with the people gathered there. I expressed that we were not there to harass or antagonize, and that if we were arrested, it would likely lead to a lawsuit. To this, he replied that he was “all for litigation.” Overall, he was antagonistic and told us that if we stayed there preaching with our speakers, he would arrest whoever was on the microphone and confiscate our speakers.
Being on a mission trip, I discerned it wouldn’t be best to get arrested and have to deal with the legal issues long-distance. This led us to change our strategy for the evening.
Even with the difficulty from the police, we had many powerful encounters. The reason we go in front of bars and clubs to preach is that the truth is that many of the people who go to bars and clubs are trapped in sin, addiction, unhappiness with their lives, and patterns to distract from their pain. We go to where the people are, regardless of their sexual orientation or beliefs, because everyone needs Jesus.
Jesus said he didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. He also said that it’s the sick who are in need of a physician. Because there were thousands of people out, and it’s the heart of God to reach the lost, we felt the Holy Spirit compelling us to share the Gospel at that location. We did not know that West Hollywood was the most densely populated LGBT community in the world. Nevertheless, God cares about the people there and wants them to repent of their sins and receive Jesus Christ.
We were not preaching in a provocative way; we weren’t really talking about the sin of homosexuality or calling any group out. Rather, we were preaching, in general, the simple Gospel message that Jesus loved each of them so much that he died on the cross for their sins, and that in order to be forgiven, they must turn from their sins and receive Jesus Christ. We preached that sin is like a cancer to our souls that is destroying the world around us, the people around us, and even our own selves, and that Jesus Christ is the cure to this problem of sin, death, and hell.
We had a lot of fruitful encounters that night in West Hollywood. There were people who were receptive to the Gospel. There was a photo taken earlier that night that shows David Ramirez on his knees with a member of the LGBT community, reading a Bible verse with him and praying with him.
The majority of people who were there were negative and hateful when they saw us, but God is always concerned about reaching “the one.” Thankfully, we reached and impacted a lot more than “one.”
The devil always wants to discourage and stop that which is affecting his kingdom and snatching people out of his hands. This is why the early church and the apostles experienced persecution. They were not afraid, and they very often went to places where the devil especially did not want them. They went into darkness to bring the light.
Some reading this might bring up, “What about the Bible verse that says don’t cast your pearls before swine?” I believe that Jesus is referring to sharing deep truths of the kingdom of God with people who are not interested and cannot understand until they are born again. In the parable of the sower, Jesus says that there will be bad ground when sharing the Gospel. The point of that parable is not to stop sowing, but to have the right expectation of what happens after sharing the Gospel. In the parable of the sower, at best, 25% of the seeds took root. Jesus doesn’t say how many of the seeds sown were sown on the path.
In an outreach setting, when one individual shows resistance to the Gospel and is not willing to receive it, we believe the Lord calls us to move on. In an environment where there are tens of thousands of people, we have to proclaim the Gospel and be there to reach those who will be receptive to it. And there are going to be people in crowds that large who are receptive to the Gospel. One soul saved is infinitely valuable to the Lord.
Christian persecution is a reality for many Christians around the world. In fact, Jesus promised that we would face persecution. As American Christians, it is important for us to understand that persecution is not something taking place only on the other side of the world, but is occurring right here in our neighborhoods. The answer to changing the culture is bringing light into what would be considered the darkest places in our culture. The Gospel has the power to change even the most hardened sinner, and though David was attacked, his heart has only forgiveness for the person who attacked him and gratitude to God for the good that happened that night.
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