An elderly Asian man is brain dead with critical injuries after he was shoved to the ground during a vicious assault in Oakland early Tuesday.
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 and fled.
Police have not said what was taken from the man, if anything.
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."
Investigators are looking for witnesses and surveillance footage.
Police do not have a description of the suspect at this time.
Oakland Police and Crime Stoppers of Oakland are offering up to $5,000 for information leading to an arrest in the case.
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."
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