The Oakland Police Department arrested a suspect Tuesday night in connection with a vicious assault that left an elderly Asian man brain dead with critical injuries.
The unidentified victim, 75, was hospitalized after the incident, which Oakland Police described as a strong-arm robbery in the city’s Adams Point neighborhood. The man was walking near Perkins St. and Jayne Ave., not far from Lake Merritt, just before 7 a.m. when a suspect approached him, tried to rob him, shoved him to the ground and fled.
Officers and investigators spent Tuesday collecting evidence related to the crime, the department posted on its Facebook page.
The suspect was not named.
A neighbor told KPIX-5 she recognized the victim when she saw him being loaded into the ambulance.
"They brought him around, then I said, ‘That’s the guy that walks up and down the street,’" Florence Williams told the station. "Every morning, he walks around that time or a little earlier."
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
The attack is the latest in a string of violence against Asian Americans in the Bay Area and across the country.
"This morning’s violent attack against an Asian-American elder in our Adams Point neighborhood is reprehensible,” Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said in a statement. "Our police will investigate thoroughly to determine whether this was racially motivated or a vile crime of opportunity. Every act of violence traumatizes our community, and I pray for healing to the victim and his family."
Related
