Police have arrested a man in connection with three attacks targeting Asian Americans in the Oakland Chinatown last month, CBS San Francisco reported.
Yahya Muslim, 28, was charged with assault, battery, elder abuse and a special complaint while on bail, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. The office also said Muslim had two convictions for assault for a previous offense.
Newly charged Oakland police chief LeRonne Armstrong announced the arrest Monday. Muslims face charges for assaulting 91-year-old man on Jan. 31 caught on video. He is accused of assaulting two more people, a 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, on the same day.
Nancy O’Malley, the Alameda County District Attorney, said she is investigating whether the attacks were racially motivated, which could add a hate crime to Muslim charges. He also announced the creation of a special response unit focused on crimes against Asian Americans, especially older Asians.
“It is not exclusive to Chinatown or the Asian community that we have seen an increase in crime across the city and across the county, but we have seen a very specific increase in crimes against Asians in recent weeks and months. “,” Said Malley.
The new unit also arrives after another similar attack in the bay area. An 84-year-old man from Thailand died after being attacked in San Francisco on January 28th. A 19-year-old man has been arrested for murder and elder abuse, the San Francisco district attorney said.
The recent period of attacks caught national attention and prompted actors Daniel Wu and Daniel Dae Kim to give $ 25,000 to get a reward that would help find the culprit. In an Instagram post showing the attack on the 91-year-old man, Wu commented on the increase in attacks on Asian Americans.
“We need to do more to literally help thousands of Americans who have suffered this absolutely senseless violence,” he said. “We have to take a stand and say ‘no more.'”
“Those of us who have been following these issues since COVID started have seen these types of incidents appear almost daily on our news channels, and yet we see very little being done about them.” Kim told Elaine Quijano of CBSN on Tuesday.
In the same interview, Wu called on the federal government to join with community groups that have made the fight against racism against Asian Americans a priority. “What the federal government can do next is reach out to community groups that are already in this space and have been doing this work for years and learn more about how they can help,” Wu said.
Weijia Jiang, a senior CBS News correspondent, asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday if President Biden has seen the videos.
“I am not aware that he has seen the videos, but he is concerned about discrimination and actions against the American Asian community, which is why he signed the executive order and explained clearly that the attacks, the verbal attacks, any attacks in any case, it is unacceptable ” Psaki said.
Days after it was inaugurated, Mr. Biden signed an executive order to disallow racism and xenophobia towards Asian Americans, specifically targeting anti-Asian animus connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over a three-month period, more than 2,120 incidents or hate crimes occurred reported by Asian Americans between March and June last year, according to the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council and Chinese for Affirmative Council. There has been an increase of almost 845% compared to all cases reported in 2017, 2018 and 2019 together. The country’s tone was exacerbated by former President Donald Trump, who referred to the virus as a “Kung flu” or “Chinese virus.”
Separately, community organizers in Oakland have set up a fund to ensure armed private security in the Chinatown. As of Tuesday, he has more than $ 62,000 in donations.
Alvin Patrick and Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report.