Deaf women recovering after being brutally attacked

Update 3/24/16:

Supporters of the two women attacked have set up an online fundraising tool to help them with medical bills and rebuild their lives. You can donate here. Since the site launched earlier in the day, $150 has been raised.

Suspect Shaunda Lane pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder on Tuesday. Court records obtained by CBS Local 2/KESQ show she was convicted of felony robbery in August 2015. She also served prison time for a felony conviction in July 2005, and at least four other felonies between that time and the time of the alleged beating of the two women in Desert Hot Springs in March 2016. Lane is currently on probation.

Original Story:

Two deaf women are recovering Tuesday after being brutally attacked near their home in Desert Hot Springs. The couple just moved to the city three months ago from Indiana.

Now their community is banding together to help them get back on their feet.

Dee and Cat both suffered injuries to their arms and hands, and Dee is recovering from a concussion.

The two were attacked after police said Shaunda Lane became offended.

“Someone was greatly offended. We don’t think she knew they were deaf, and she was offended by their mannerisms, by not being able to communicate and shooing her off their property,” said Chief Dale Mondary of the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.

Shortly after, police said, Lane attacked them with a baseball bat near their home.

The woman helping them out is known as Team Mom. She said they’re living in constant fear.

“They’re scared to come forward because they feel like someone is going to do something more to them, and it’s sad because if someone does something to them, they can’t even hear them,” Team Mom said.

The morning following the attack, Team Mom said the women’s home was broken into.

“These young ladies have nothing. They had a phone, they broke their phone. They already didn’t have anything in their house,” Team Mom said. Now she’s asking for the community’s help to get these women back on their feet.

“We’ve reached out to different organizations that deal with hearing impaired people to get some of those things replaced. And also we’re working on a fund to get them in a different place because they don’t feel safe in the house that they are in,” Team Mom said.

With George Zander’s memorial fresh on many people’s minds, Team Mom wonders if the women were targeted because they’re lesbians.

But the police department said this is not a hate crime.

“And in this particular case, the motive appears to be just some irrational conclusion by an offended party, who came back and assaulted them,” Mondary said.

Regardless of motive, Team Mom is asking anyone willing to donate, to bring donations to the Desert Hot Springs UPS store. And Dee and Cat said they’re thankful for any help they get.

Police said Lane is charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

She’s being held on $195,000 bail and she’s due in court at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on Tuesday, according to jail records.